All In A Day's Work Oneshots
by SolaceActor
Summary: Vivian is the new girl, along with new flirtatious acquaintance, Darius. She immediately becomes friends with Amy and it would appear that Daryl and Merle Dixon have appointed themselves bodyguards. Whatever will the dead world come to next? First three chapters are introductory. The rest will be oneshots. Rated M just in case for language and possible content.
1. All In A Day's Work 1

Walkers. Hate them. What do they do? Feed and stumble around like drunks. Anything else? Nope, not a thing. When I woke up on the morning of the apocalypse, I thought they were zombies. You know, the undead type that rise from graves. You get the undead, the infected and the mutated. Zombies are the undead, Walkers are the infected and… Mutants are the mutants, simple enough. So, I was thinking 'Oh great, zombies.' When really I should have been thinking 'Oh great, Walkers.'

Walkers are actually a lot more frightening than zombies. Zombies died once and then pull themselves out of graves. The brains are rotted and they can't think about anything but feed. Walkers… much worse. As far as I know, a disease spread and people who got it broke into a terrible fever. They then passed out from the exhaustion and died when they were unconscious. Then they came back. But their minds weren't remotely human. From the way I'm explaining this, it must sound like zombies and Walkers are still very alike. I can't explain it properly but they're more frightening, especially when all your family was infected at a huge family reunion and then try to eat you.

I think the best way that I can describe this is to explain my situation from the beginning.

The morning sun always irked me. I'd go to bed thinking 'Yeah, I'll wake up tomorrow after a nice lie-in.' But the sun simply wouldn't allow me that luxury. I've been an early riser all my life. Never had one lie-in, whether the sun woke me up or not. My eyes opened and then I scrunched them closed again, groaning at the brightness of the rays glowing through the crack between my curtains. I rolled over and wiped my face. Nightmares. What a load of shit. When I was in my teen years, I used to go without sleep so that I could avoid them. Longest I managed to go without my parents forcing me to sleep was a week. I still avoid it sometimes but my parents threaten me with chloroform.

I sleep with a gun close beside me at all times. Just in case. My pistol felt heavy in my hand as I stretched my muscles and then sat up. Glancing at my alarm clock, I made a quick calculation in my head that the party was in 5 hours. It was 6:44 AM. Latest I had ever woken up. The sun was only peeking through my curtains because of the summer hours. I swung my legs out of bed and padded to my door. I don't live with my parents anymore, thank God. They were forever arguing and hitting each other. It probably shocks you that I'm so casual about it. I've grown used to it by now. There was a time when they used to hit _me_. I took secret lessons after school from my P.E teacher who was once a stunt man. One of his films involved a sword fight and he got trained in the art of the samurai sword/katana. I never told him why I needed the lessons but he was eager to teach me. When my father had had too much to drink one evening, he tried to slash at me with a broken beer bottle. I managed to block and swiped a little with the katana that I had concealed behind my back. They never tried to abuse me again.

Breakfast was quick and simple; a banana. I never really liked bananas but I didn't feel very hungry today. I'm a girl of simple tastes really. I like tea and a nice book and writing stories. I'm a budding author who when couldn't make her way in life in Britain, picked up her stuff and moved over to Dalton, Georgia, United States Of America. Yes, I'm a British woman of 28. Publishers didn't like my stories so I came to America instead. I haven't found anyone as of yet, but I will.

'_All In A Day's Work_'

5 hours flew past and the next time I looked at the clock, I realised that I was 20 minutes late. Writing novels really makes you forget the time. "Shit…" I hissed as I rushed around the house, grabbing clothes, putting them on while brushing my teeth and pulling on mismatched shoes. Then pulling one of the shoes off and swapping it with another that matched the first. I settled on simple jeans with a green vest top and a leather jacket. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up…" I urged myself as I swept through the hallway, grabbing my keys to my motorbike and unlocking the door. I was completely unprepared for what met my eyes.

Houses were on fire, smoke billowing from the windows, doors and holes in roofs. My mouth gaped as I watched people running for their lives, screaming for all they were worth and shooting guns and swinging poles at each other. But some of the people were acting strangely… They had blood over them, skin torn at their mouths revealing their jaws and missing limbs, some missing both legs. _How the fuck had I not heard this? Or even noticed this?_ The stranger people were attacking the apparently normal humans by trying to bite them and clawing at them. One of them managed to push one over and pounced, ripping their arms and biting them until they were dead. Then it feasted upon the flesh. I inhaled shakily, trying to ignore the scent and taste of blood and bullets in the air, and stepped back slowly.

Someone stumbled past my gate and then looked up at me. Their tongue was hanging out of their jaw… or what was left of their jaw. The whole bottom part had been torn off. And yet it still walked. It stared at me hungrily, blood dripping from its mouth (whether it was its own or someone else's, I didn't know) and from its clothing. It took a step towards me as I backed into the house, trying to comprehend what to do. It was quickening its pace, as though it couldn't wait to sink its teeth into me and I made a strange guttural gargling noise. It groaned and reached for me as I slammed the door.

It collided with the other side of the door and I screamed as it pounded determinedly against the wood. "Oh God… this can't be happening…" I whispered to myself, still trying the grasp the gravity of the new situation. Of the new Dalton. Was this happening all over America? All over the world? I dread to think. I bolted to the phone and began dialling my parents' number. They didn't pick up. "Fuck!" I shouted angrily and tore upstairs for my katana and pistol. The authorities would be engaged, no doubt. What help would they do anyway?

"Time to slice and dice." I muttered and opened the front door after taking some deep breaths. The _thing_ stopped tearing at my poor door (Oh, rhyme) and stared at me maliciously. It stretched its arms out and took a step towards me. Before it could take another, I swung the katana and sliced off its head. The body twitched a little and then fell into my hallway, blood oozing everywhere. I crinkled my nose and looked at the head. It didn't look like it was alive. As if to contradict me, its eyes flew open and it gurgled. "Shit, why won't you die?" I shouted at it and stabbed the sword through the forehead. This time, it didn't move.

I placed my foot on the head and pulled the blade out of its skull. _Nice_. I looked around frantically, hoping another thing wouldn't pop up unexpectedly. _Okay, I've got to see if Mum and Dad are okay… And the rest of my family, of course. Thank God for the reunion._ I leaped down the steps to my door and quickly wheeled my motorbike out of my front garden. I fingered the keys, trying to push them into the ignition as I stared around me. No one with their own mind was left. People were lying dead all over the street, blood pouring down gutters and the monsters walking around, looking for fresh meat. I appeared to be the only 'alive' person in the vicinity. Shit. The bike roared into life and I swung my leg over the bike. The monsters were limping over quickly and I raced away, not chancing a look back.

'_All In A Day's Work_'

"Mum! Dad!" I shouted as I dropped the bike on the front lawn and threw myself at the front door. I unlocked it, fumbling pathetically, and then swung open the door, my katana hitting my leg in its sheath. "Mum? Dad!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting through the house. I knew that it was stupid, especially since the monsters appeared to be attracted to sound but I _had_ to know if they were okay.

They weren't upstairs so I dashed through the kitchen and into the back garden. _Oh God… I shouldn't have come_. My entire family were covered in blood, some lying down and some standing. But they were all moving. They had all in turn been turned into a-a-a cannibal! All of them! _Oh my God…_ They all turned to look at me and snarled. I didn't have the strength to kill them. Not my own family, no way. I turned around and sprinted to the front door. I pushed the bike onto the street and tried to start it up, urging it to go faster as I could see my cousin, Billy, already at the door, staggering over to me with vacant but evil eyes. The bike finally roared into life and I scrambled on, taking off at a speed that would make my tears look as though it was merely the wind making my eyes water.

'_All In A Day's Work_'

It had been 2 weeks. Radio transmissions concerning survivor camps and military bases had stopped coming through. I felt indifferent as I washed the tears and blood from my face. The world seemed like it was in flames, though there wasn't a blaze in sight from where I was in the abandoned café now. I had had to kill the owner, the staff and some customers in order to stay there safely. It was either that or run out of fuel halfway to the next station. No thanks.

So what were these things? Zombies? I scoffed at the thought and got myself some tea. Zombies rose from the grave and wanted brains. These things… They wanted to devour your flesh, simple as. My family couldn't have been _zombies_ because they were alive to begin with. No, it had to be some sort of… of disease. An infection, maybe some virus in the air, in which case, some of us must be immune. Or just someone who didn't handle drugs very well. Either way, the consequences were huge, turning people to cannibalism and murder.

I sighed and gulped down my tea in 7 seconds. It was too bitter. _What do you expect from a fuckin' café?_ All I had was a katana. My pistol had run out of ammo quickly and everywhere I went to restock was empty, already raided. I didn't have a gun or a knife or a crossbow… I didn't even have any food. From all of the zombie games, books and films that I had encountered, the cities were densely populated with the terrifying beings. The countryside was always safer and so that's where I planned to go. But, first, I had to make a quick stop at Atlanta, just in case there was a camp. It was doubtful, but I might as well try.

A tinkle of china behind me alerted me and I spun quickly, katana out and ready to slice. A man was standing with a mug of coffee and he was sipping it casually, as though I wasn't pointing a very sharp sword at him. He swallowed and punctuated it with a satisfied 'Aaahhh.' He then looked at me with a smirk. "A lady with a sword, huh? How intimidating." His Texan accent was very pronounced and I almost winced. Narrowing my eyes, I raised the blade a little higher. He didn't seem hostile but this man certainly did seem dangerous.

His shaggy brown hair resembled Billy-Joe Armstrong, from Greenday, and his piercing grey eyes seemed to look right into me, as though I were merely a window. He was dressed in a blue checked shirt with ragged holes and blood spattered across it. His jeans were ripped but he didn't appear to be injured. I noticed the pistol tucked into his waistband and the rifle beside him on the counter. His eyes gleamed when he saw me looking at his guns.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked cockily and placed the mug down. I didn't respond; I only stared at him, muscles tensed. "Oh, strong and silent type, hmm? Alrighty then." How could he be so casual? I felt so angered at him that I just wanted to run him through. _No. Don't think that. He's still human. A fellow survivor. He can help. Despite his being an arse._ "Listen, are you heading down to Atlanta?"

Slowly, I nodded and adjusted my grip on the handle. He took no notice and then cleared his throat, picking up his rifle. "Well, listen here, lady." He had my attention by now. What was he going to propose? "Don't go." I frowned. "It's filled with Walkers."  
"Walkers?"  
"Ah, she speaks!" I sneered at his sarcastic reply. He just grinned cheekily and leaned against the counter. "Yeah, that's what they're called. Or geeks, take your pick." Walkers… Hm.

"Filled with them, hmm? How do I know you're not lying to me?" I questioned, readying myself for whatever response he had. He merely shrugged.  
"I came from there and I can tell you now that there ain't no camp down there." I sighed and lowered my katana. What was even the point anymore? My family were gone, the world had descended into chaos and I was talking to some stranger. "But…" My head snapped up, "I _did_ hear that there was a camp at the quarry…" Hope swept through my body and I straightened. "I was heading there myself actually. Wanna join me?" He said it as though he was asking if I wanted to go with him to the movies.

"I've just met you and you're asking me to go with you?" I asked incredously, my eyebrow raised.  
"Yup, sounds about right. Survivors have gotta stick together, don't you agree?" Damn it, he had me there. I heaved another sigh and nodded.  
"Fine." I gave in and his smile intensified. It gave me uncomfortable shivers.

"Well, I'm Darius Thompson. You?" He held out his hand for me to shake. I hesitated for a moment but eventually shook it.  
"I'm Vivian Delaney."

**I'm not even going to bother apologising for this fiction because I'm not guilty. This has been stuck in my head for so long that I just had to write it. If I didn't, I'd be denying my right as an author. J. K. Rowling agrees. I hope. ANYWAY, Daryl will appear next chapter most probably. You know me: Impatient. Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna **


	2. All In A Day's Work 2

My bike ran out of gas after 3 miles, I'm sad to say. Darius had been in his own truck and he had nearly full juice, the lucky son of a bitch. _Thank the Gods that he's got a pick up._ I had insisted that we put my bike into his truck. He had been hesitant, saying it would slow us down but I countered saying that the Walkers wouldn't exactly be able to keep up anyway. He caved and now I was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, watching signs go past telling us how far away Atlanta was and the Quarry would be coming up in about 30 miles or something like that. Sleep was trying to claim me but I held on. No way was I sleeping with Darius within a 2 metre radius of me. I _did_ drowse for a while, but I didn't go into a deep sleep. I don't wake from light sleep easily though. It takes quite a bit (like screaming) to wake me up.

"So, where ya from?" Darius's voice startled me and I opened my eyes to turn and look at him. His eyes were on the road but he glanced at me every now and then for an answer. "Originally, London in Great Britain. I moved to Dalton about a decade ago." I replied with a little shrug, "What about you?" His fingers drummed on the steering wheel as we drove on.  
"Dallas, Texas." He said simply. I nodded and didn't respond after that, hoping the small talk was over. Sadly, it wasn't. "How old are ya, Vivian?" I sighed inwardly.  
"I'm 28. And yourself?"  
"30." He seemed younger than that but I didn't really care. I wasn't planning on getting to know Darius very well. I didn't particularly want to bond with him, especially when I spied him peeking at my chest once or twice in the café and the truck.

We drove on in silence, thank God, and only passed a few Walkers on the way. Darius took no notice of them and we went straight on past them. They lumbered towards us pathetically and were soon lost over the horizon. The sky was darkening when we reached the road leading up to the Quarry.

"Wait, we can't just drive on up there." I reprimanded Darius as he tried to take the truck up. He frowned at me.  
"And why the hell not?" He asked impatiently.  
"Because they'll think we're just going there for the hospitality." He didn't seem to catch on.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Great. It was embarrassing enough that I was doing this for _manners_ but to have to _say_ it was… Stupid Texan. I rolled my eyes and checked around in the glove compartments. "You got a radio or something in here?" Darius nodded in puzzlement and took one out of the side of the door. I flicked the switch and tuned it over to the Emergency Broadcasting frequency.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me? Hello?" I tried calmly. After a few seconds of crackling, someone picked up.  
"Hello? We can hear you." I sighed with relief. Darius didn't seem as relieved as I did. In fact, he seemed irritated. "Are you part of the group by the Quarry?"  
"Yes, I am. Are you looking for it?" The voice sounded slightly gravelly and I got a picture of an old man but still lively in my head.  
"No, we've found it. I just figured it would be more polite if we asked first." The Texan beside me snorted as a chuckle resounded through the speaker. I found I rather liked the person on the other side of the conversation.  
"We? Have you got more people with you?"  
"I've got one other with me. I have a motorbike out of gas and he's got a truck nearly full of it."

"Are either of you bitten?"  
"No, we're clean."  
"Alright, come on up. Any Walkers?" I peered around outside. The sky was dark but not dark enough to obstruct my vision. As far as I could tell, there wasn't any around. "No, we're clear."  
"Good. I'll tell everyone else." And the conversation ended with a crackle.

"Can we go up?" Darius asked eagerly. I nodded. He slammed his foot on the pedal and I screamed at him.  
"Darius! Stop it!" I shouted and he slowed down. "Jesus, are you trying to attract every Walker for miles?" He just grinned cheekily.  
"You love it really." Excuse me?  
"No, I most certainly did not!"

The truck came to a stop at the top of the hill and Darius turned off the engine. I stepped out, albeit a little shyly, and kept my hand on my katana. The man on the radio seemed friendly but I had no idea about the rest of his group. It was like a big campsite. There were tents dotted around, washing lines strung up between trees and a bonfire shielded by some rocks. A large group were sat around it, a smaller group sitting off to the side, and I peered at them all. They were staring at Darius and I. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…_

"Ah, you've arrived." We turned to see an old man with a plump belly approaching us from an RV. It was a Winnebago. I smiled at it. I used to camp in those when I was younger. Not anymore. The man was wearing a floppy fisherman's hat and a Hawaiian shirt with shorts. His sandals made a small noise with every step he took. "Welcome to camp." He said with a little smile. I returned it while Darius half-sneered. I elbowed him in the ribs. "Ignore him. He's got his head stuck up his arse." Darius scoffed and ignored my jibe.

"Well, what are your names?"  
"This is Darius. I'm Vivian." I pointed to each of us in turn.  
"Well, it's nice to meet you two," He shook our hands, "I'm Dale." I smiled at him and looked at the rest of the camp.

"Have you got a tent? Sleeping bag? Anything?" I shook my head reluctantly.  
"Everywhere I went, there wasn't anything left. Never went camping in tents. I've just got my bike. Darius only has his truck." I explained sadly. Dale didn't seem to mind though. He nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder.  
"Next time we go scavenging, we'll get you a tent. Are you two… together?" Together? Seriously? I shook my head fervently.  
"No! No, no, no, we're not. Only met today." I quickly correct him. Dale nodded and began to lead us to the other survivors.

"Alright everyone, these two are joining our ranks." Dale called loudly and there were a few people who muttered to each other. "They're Darius and Vivian."  
"Which one is which?" One of them said with a loud laugh. I looked at the offender. He had a shaved head and a whole lot of leather and jeans on. He had slight stubble and a slightly wheezy voice. He sounded like a redneck. My parents used to call them 'Trailer Trash'. I always disagreed and let them know, albeit rather loudly, that they were humans too and did not deserve such treatment.

"I'm Darius." Said man informed him coldly. The redneck raised an eyebrow. Dale shook his head as another member of the group told him to be quiet.  
"Merle, shut it." A man with curly black hair said. His dark eye glistened in the firelight and I got the idea that though Dale was introducing us, he was the one in charge. He looked up at us. "Ignore Merle Dixon. He's a bit of an ass." He said apologetically. "I'm Shane. I was a Deputy before all of this shit happened." The woman sitting next to him pushed him lightly, reprimanding him for swearing. I did a sweep around the circle and then understood why; there were actually children sitting in the group. I was surprised.

The woman with brown eyes and hair smiled at me. "I'm Lori. This is my son, Carl." A young boy with lots of freckles but a curious face peered up at me with a smile. I smiled lightly back at him. I had never been a very 'kid-person'. Dale then began to point at people in turn.

He pointed at a Korean teenager. "That's Glenn." Glenn smiled in response, "That's T-Dog" A coloured man raised a hand in recognition as he stared in dislike at Merle, "Morales and his wife, Miranda, and his two children, Eliza and Louis," I waved at them each in return, "Jacqui," A somewhat stern looking woman nodded at me but with a kind smile, "Jim," Jim merely looked at me, "Andrea and her sister, Amy," Two blondes greeted me a little enthusiastically and then nodded at Darius.

Dale then turned and pointed to the group who weren't huddled with the larger one. "That's Ed and his wife, Carol, and his daughter Sophia. They don't really come over here." Carol had short grey hair and a very timid expression. Sophia seemed a little frightened. Ed was a large man, lounging back on a chair with a very intimidating expression. He didn't appear to want his family to be near them. I looked at Carol in sympathy and she smiled softly back, making sure Ed didn't see. Dale then turned us back around.

"Shane, Lori and Carl are sitting just there. And then there's Merle Dixon and his younger brother, Daryl." I hadn't even noticed anyone sitting beside Merle. I looked at the man who was seated there and took a good 3 seconds more than I should have in observing him.

He had blonde scruffy hair and scruffy stubble to go with it. He was wearing a green vest with tan trousers and walking boots. Beside him was his brother, and on his other side, a crossbow. _Nice_. Daryl's blue eyes blinked up at me and I could see his muscles rippling in the firelight. It lit up his features nicely and I could just see a small mole at the corner of his mouth.

I smiled gently at both of the Dixon brothers and what really surprised me was that they nodded politely back. I was expecting Daryl to ignore me and Merle to sneer but no. "Well, we're into the night now. Join us for some dinner." Dale proposed and I bit my lip.  
"Are you sure there's enough?" I had to make sure. I didn't want to be taking food that wasn't mine.  
"Of course there is, Daryl went hunting today. He got plenty of food." At this remark, Daryl lowered his head a little, as though embarrassed. "Now, go on, take a seat over there. Dinner will be ready soon." I swallowed thickly and looked to where Dale had pointed. Between Merle and Amy. There wasn't very much space between them but we could squish in.

I ended up seated next to Amy with Darius squished between me and Merle. "So, you're called Vivian?" Amy asked after a slightly awkward silence. I nodded softly.  
"Mmhmm." I replied, fiddling with my fingers. Amy smiled at me.  
"No need to feel awkward, Vivian. You'll get used to us." I nodded with relief.  
"That's great. I hate feeling like a spare part." I admitted. Darius scoffed a little. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Got something you wanna say, boy?" Someone beat me to it. Merle was looking at him with an imploring look. Was he defending me? Or did he just really dislike Darius? Either way, I was siding with him.

"Nothing." Darius said with a tone and smile that implied he was in on a personal joke. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him and back to Amy. She was frowning slightly. "So… How long have you known Darius?" She asked curiously.  
"Since this afternoon." I replied. She chuckled lightly.  
"And you're friends?" I snorted a little.  
"Not exactly." Darius then looked at me with indignation.

"Hey! I thought we were!" I gave Amy the Look and she returned it. I had a feeling we'd be rather close.  
"Darius… No. Just… no." I said seriously and he threw his arms up in submission, though he could only throw them halfway up because my shoulder and Merle's shoulder was restricting his movement so much. "Where are you from, Vivian, Darius?" Lori asked from across the fire, stroking Carl's hair absent-mindedly. I cleared my throat a little.

"Darius is from Texas and I'm from Britain." I replied to her question. She seemed a little impressed.  
"And how old are you two?" Jacqui questioned. I nudged Darius. He could be the one to answer this time. I was feeling uncomfortable with talking so much. I felt like I talked _too_ much. "I'm 30 and she's 28." Darius answered snidely. I sighed and shook my head.  
"You'll have to excuse his abrasive attitude. He doesn't work well with people." I explained apologetically. Hell, I was just guessing, but judging by all of his first impressions, he was exactly as I described.

"How did you survive on your own?" Morales interjected quickly. His children were talking quietly and his wife appeared to be conversing with Carol in mere facial expressions. I felt odd. "I had a pistol for a while but it ran out of ammo. Never did like using them much." I explained casually, "Of course, I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have my sword."  
"Sword?" Merle piped up and I nodded enthusiastically. I managed to stand and I pulled my sword out of its sheath. I still marvelled at its beauty today. Merle whistled lowly in admiration and my mouth tugged upwards into a smirk. "Beautiful, I think. Had it since I was 15. Saved my skin from my parents and plenty of thugs out there." I hadn't even realised how British I sounded until Darius brought it up.

"You've been living here how long and you've still got your accent? Yikes." Wow, really? Darius always managed to pick fights. Why did I agree to go with him? _If it weren't for him, you'd be in Atlanta, probably dead._ I growled inwardly and sat back down again, sliding the blade back into the sheath with a snap. "Ya know, I'm not likin' yer attitude." Merle growled, uh… outwardly at the Texan.  
"Merle, you don't like anything." Shane corrected and he shrugged.  
"There's a few thin's in life tha' ev'ry man can enjoy." He implied with an all-knowing smirk. Shane shifted a little and then looked away. Whoa, tension.

"What did you mean by 'saved your skin from your parents'?" Amy asked, some dread lacing her tone. I tensed up a little, but not enough for anyone to notice. I hope.  
"Oh, right…" I mumbled. _How the fuck am I gonna get outta this one?_

"Order up!" Dale exclaimed with a big smile on his face. _Oh my God, I love you, Dale._ He had plates balanced up his arms and man, whatever was on them smelled good. He presented the plates to Lori, Shane, Carl and Jim first. He left and returned with more and kept going until we all had a plate. Dale then settled down in his chair with a heavy sigh and tucked in. Thankfully, we had cutlery. I find it very difficult to eat finger food. It smelled lovely and when I ate some, it tasted even nicer. The meat was soft and tender but had a unique taste to it. I recalled Dale saying that Daryl had been hunting. "What animal is this, Daryl?" I asked quietly. He stopped eating for a moment to peer at me.  
"Squirrel." He muttered, as though irritated with himself for not catching something bigger. I nodded. Never tried squirrel before.  
"Thank you." I mumbled and he froze again.

"What ya thankin' me for?" He asked. I looked back at his blue eyes that seemed to cut right into me.  
"You caught it in the first place." I reasoned and after a moment, he grunted and continued to eat. He wasn't much of a talker. Thank God someone here wasn't.

Dinner passed relatively quietly and it ended with a little celebration for Darius and I. I smiled at them all, thanking them for their hospitality. Eventually, everyone started getting ready to go to bed, except Shane and Daryl. Shane stayed up with his shotgun and sat by the fire, keeping watch. Daryl on the other hand, was cleaning his crossbow, still sitting where he had during dinner. I could feel my exhaustion pounding through my head and body, trying to make me give in but I couldn't. I tried to recall the last time I had slept. Last week? "Are you sure you don't want to sleep in here?" Amy asked with a concerned frown. She had offered me to sleep in the tent with her and her sister. I didn't really want to impose so I nodded my head at her question.

"I'm sure. Always did love the stars anyway." I reasoned with a slightly shaky smile. Truth was, I was nervous about camping without something preventing anything from getting me. I bade Amy and Andrea good night before they could call me out on it and walked back to the fire. Shane nodded at me as I sat by the fire, pulling my jacket around me tighter. I didn't know where Darius was sleeping and I didn't care either.

"Looks like we'll be camping out here together." A voice startled me and I looked behind me to find Darius standing with a smirk. _Speak of the devil and he shall appear_… I scowled at him and looked back at the fire, ignoring the curious looks both of the men on watch gave us. "Not likely." I replied a little gruffly, my voice muffled by my jacket. Darius sat beside me and stretched, trying accentuate his chest through his shirt. I rolled my eyes and edged away from him. He chuckled.

"Now, is that any way to treat your partner?" Partner? Where the fuck did that come from?  
"What the fuck are you talking about, Darius?" I asked incredously. He waggled his eyebrows at me and I narrowed my eyes. "Go to sleep, moron." I ordered coldly and stared into the fire angrily. I heard him sigh but didn't look at him.  
"That hurts, Viv." _No one calls me Viv_.

I stood up and grabbed his collar, bringing us nose to nose. Both Daryl and Shane stood as well and quickly came over. "_No one calls me Viv._ Got that? You don't call me that. Ever. Now shut your fucking mouth and go the fuck to sleep." Daryl pulled me away from Darius while Shane dragged him out of my grip. I glared at the 30 year old man and allowed Daryl to pull me away.

"What're ya thinkin'?" Daryl said angrily, holding me by my bicep. I didn't answer straight away; the pain in my arm was starting to hurt a little. He shook me roughly. "Well?" I looked at him in the eyes, slightly surprising him.  
"Get your hand off my arm. It hurts." I said bluntly and after a second, Daryl removed his hand. I managed to refrain from rubbing it. _That's gonna bruise…_ "In answer to your question, I'm thinking that that son of a bitch over there needs to learn some fucking manners." I jabbed my finger at irritating man on the other side of the camp site.

"'F he tries it again, jus' call me." Daryl said gruffly and then trudged back to his seat. What? No blow up? No shouting at me? Wow. This guy was in my good books already. I couldn't help but notice the confident swagger in his walk. _Damn, that's a nice arse… Oh no, shut up!_ I managed to tear my eyes away from it and instead looked at the sparks in the sky. The exhaustion I had been suffering from for the past week was trying to drag me down. Oh, now I remember how long it had been; I hadn't slept in 9 days now. The little outburst had made me feel a little weak. When I say a _little_, I mean a lot.

"What's wrong?" I looked over to Daryl who was gazing at me intently. I must have stumbled a little. I shook my head and waved my hand.  
"I'm fine." I mumbled but ended up losing my balance. I tumbled to the floor and groaned a little. "Ow…" I muttered and Daryl's face came into view.  
"What's wrong?" He asked me again as he crouched beside me, frowning.

"What's going on here?" Another face entered my vision; this time it was Shane. I blinked and little spots appeared in front of my eyes.  
"What the fuck is happening?" I heard myself groan as I tried to move my limbs to get up. I managed to raise my head a little and arch my back but I flopped straight back down again. "Shit, get Dale. He's got the medical shit." Shane ordered. Daryl hesitated for a moment but left. Shane's face was devoid of emotion as he waited for Daryl to return with Dale and medical supplies.

From what I could see during dinner, Shane had been quiet but still cocky. He said before that he was a Deputy and I wondered if his arrogance stemmed from that. I also noted the surreptitious glances he made at Lori. Lori had been wearing a ring and a locket on a necklace so I could only assume that her husband had died. Shane appeared to be aware of the fact but still wanted her. Then there was the implication Merle made… Hm.

Daryl and Dale returned quickly and the older man began checking over my body for injuries. "What exactly happened?" He asked the two men crouched over me. Daryl answered.  
"She jus' stumbled an' collapsed. No warnin' or nothin'." Every blink I made was slower and I had to fight to stay awake.  
"Hmm, sounds like exhaustion or heat stroke to me…" Dale muttered to himself. He felt my forehead but seemed satisfied with its temperature. "Exhaustion."

"What's going on?" A female voice sounded from behind us but I couldn't crane my head to see. It sounded like Lori. More voices began to talk over each other, all wondering why I was on the floor with 3 men over me. "Oh for God's sake…" I muttered.  
"Vivian? What's wrong?" I heard Amy say, louder than the others. A few footsteps and she crouched beside Shane. "Vivian?" Her concern was heart-warming actually. I smiled grimly at her.  
"I'm fine, Amy. Just a bit tired." I managed to groan out.  
"Vivian, when was the last time you slept?" Dale asked me with a slightly disapproving look in his eye. Uh oh. I licked my lips and averted my eyes to the sky above me in shame.  
"9 days…" I muttered.

Amy gasped while the men made noises like 'Seriously?' and 'Jesus, how does she do it?' "What's going on, Amy?" Lori asked a little way away. Amy spoke up loudly so that everyone could hear.  
"Vivian's exhausted. She hasn't slept in 9 days." She explained. Shit.

"Why haven't you slept?" Shane said accusingly. I cocked a tired eyebrow at him, my breaths coming out quickly. What the fuck was his problem? "It's either nightmares or no sleep." I reasoned and my eyelids began to droop. _No, I can't sleep. If I do, the nightmares will be worse than ever_. I forced my lids open and breathed out shakily. "There's no way in hell that I'm falling asleep now." I growled determinedly and propped myself up by my elbows. My head was lulling a little but I forced that up and managed to push myself to a sitting position, despite my aching muscles.

"Vivian, don't overwork yourself! You _need_ sleep."  
"Like hell I do." I retorted and then stumbled up to my feet. I wobbled a little and nearly fell over again. A hand on my shoulder held me up and I nodded at Daryl. "I don't care what the hell she's saying, she's sleeping tonight. Daryl, can you help her over to mine and Andrea's tent?" Daryl grunted and then began pushing me towards their tent. My feet didn't move as fast as they should have been and I tripped a little. Daryl's right arms slipped around my waist and held me upright. I felt embarrassed but I didn't let on. At least, I hope I didn't. "Actually, I wouldn't recommend letting her sleep _just_ yet." That damn Texan.

Everyone looked at Darius, who was standing beside Ed and T-Dog. His face was smirking horribly, as though he had a huge secret that he knew everyone else wanted to know. "And why not?" Shane questioned, taking on his role as 'leader' of the group. Darius chuckled, scuffed his feet and plunged his hands into his pockets. "_Well_, she tends to _toss and turn_ at night. Shrieking obscenities and the like." _No way… How the…_  
"An' jus' how would you know tha', boy?" Merle spoke up from the other side of Daryl, who was still holding my arm and had one arm around my waist.  
"ID." He replied smugly. I frowned.  
"ID? ID isn't even necessary anymore." I bit out. He shrugged.  
"I dunno. It was some sort of medical shit." He corrected himself, "It had your age and your name and stuff on it. And it had all of your medical _implications_. Like… how you were in and out of hospital for clinic depression. Like… how you rambled about killing someone. Like… how your parents kept beating you when you were a child." Everyone's eyes were on me.

I was shaking. With rage or fear, I did not know, but I was quaking and my fists were clenched. "How did you even _get_ that information?" I hissed. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up to the moon and firelight. It was familiar. It was disguised as an ID but really it was a Medical Identification. I had to show it to any doctors who I was taken to, if it was necessary. I kept it with me because it was easier to just give them the card rather than explain it all. "How did you get that?" I shrieked, breaking out of Daryl's grip forcefully and stalking halfway across the site before he put it back in his pocket. We were surrounded by the camp now, my back to the cliff edge and his to the forest. "You fell asleep in the truck on the way here. It wasn't deep or nothing; you weren't having nightmares. But you didn't wake up when I copped a feel." WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! HE WHAT?

I voiced that. "YOU WHAT?" He shrugged, as though it meant nothing.  
"I touched your tits a little and found this in your pocket." He explained with pursed lips.  
"You… You… I… Why would you even do that?" I could hear some people mumbling about what was happening. I couldn't decipher what they were saying but at the present time, I didn't care.  
"What size are you? D? DD? I dunno, I'm not an expert in the technical sizes." He continued, "But how could I not? You were just there and breathing nicely. Couldn't help myself." I actually had a feeling that some of the men were trying to see if Darius was right in his predictions. There was a moment of silence before I unsheathed my sword and raised it above my head. I wouldn't kill him. I wouldn't. But I would sure as hell kick his arse. "Vivian… Put the sword down." Shane ordered. I lowered it, but only a little. It seemed to satisfy him.

"You want your arse handed to you on a plate?" I suggested menacingly. He mocked fear.  
"Oh, no! Whatever shall I do? She's got a big sharp knife and she's gonna cut me up with it!" He even went as far as to fist his hands together in a begging position. "Oh, have mercy! I had no idea how strong you are!" That did it. I grabbed a stray knife left from dinner off of a seat and flung it at him. It spun in the air and he shrieked, ducking just in time. It burrowed itself into a tree behind him and we all looked at the knife. Some in dread and the rest in awe. I stalked over to the now cowering Darius and grabbed his collar, pulling him up to my height. "If you ever touch me again… That knife will be embedded into your skull, which is just as thick as that tree right there." I pushed him back to the floor and after about 5 seconds of silence, Merle whooped.

I sheathed my sword again and looked at the rest of the camp, but I wasn't really looking at their faces. All I saw were blurs. I remember blinking for a little too long and opening them to find that I was falling to the floor. Someone caught me but I couldn't see who. Rushing footsteps and raised voices pounded through my head and I groaned. Slowly, my eyes focussed and I found Daryl's face a little close to mine and Amy and Merle looking at me in concern and confusion. I caved. "Okay, maybe sleep would be best…" I murmured and Amy rolled her eyes.  
"Ugh, finally!" She complained and she looked at Daryl. "Will you bring her in?" He nodded and hoisted me up into his arms.  
"Y'alrigh' there, bro?" Merle asked his brother and he nodded.  
"Yeah." He replied lowly and Daryl began to walk to Amy and Andrea's tent. His walk was slower but I could still feel the 'swagger' as I keep referring to it as. I don't think I could have stopped nuzzling into his broad chest if I tried. I didn't try, but he didn't seem to mind either. If anything, I think he held me tighter. Maybe I'm imagining it. I am, after all, delirious. I do not desire this. No, I do not.

I didn't even realise that I was now in Amy and Andrea's tent. Daryl slowly lowered me to a camp bed and pulled the sleeping bag over me. I frowned. "Isn't this Amy's bed?" I muttered, barely sounding comprehensible.  
"Prob'ly." Daryl replied half-heartedly and then stood up. He looked down at me for a moment more and then nodded before leaving, muttering "I'm gonna kick tha' boy's ass…" Andrea was already asleep and Amy crept in quietly. "You've gotta recover so you'll stay in here for the next couple of days, kay?" Amy assured me. I was reluctant but finally, my tiredness overwhelmed me. I managed a nod before falling victim to sleep's merciless clutches.

**Oh, that was a long chapter. Well, it seemed long on Word. The sleeping thing was a bit dramatic, but I wanted a dramatic entrance :) I haven't actually slept in 9 days. It's hell. Anywho, I'm winging it on here. It will probably just be a short story pre-season 1. Yeah, cos I'm lazy. Hopefully I got their attitudes alright but it was difficult to get Dale, Amy and Daryl, since they spoke the most in this chapter. Hopefully it wasn't too dreadful. Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna **


	3. All In A Day's Work 3

I woke up to someone shaking me. I groaned, like a child, and tried to roll over and away from the person. Their shaking became more incessant and I tried to swipe at them, push them away, anything. A female chuckle met my ears and my eyes slowly inched open. I was facing the wall of a tent in a camp bed. "Good, you're awake." A familiar voice said and I craned my neck to see behind me. Amy was crouching beside me with a warm smile on her lips.  
"Amy…" I mumbled tiredly. Her smile intensified.  
"I'm glad you remember me… How did you sleep? Any nightmares?" She asked, concern evident in her eyes. I half grinned.  
"Of course there was; I've always got nightmares. But I feel a little rejuvenated now. I can do more stuff now and help out around the site." I reasoned and she nodded happily.  
"Great! I've got some spare clothes and you can change into them. We don't wash ourselves in the Quarry, for obvious reasons, but there _is_ a small waterfall in the forest." She informed me, "I can't take you there myself because I've got to do some washing but I could get someone to take you?" I smiled.  
"That'd be great, Amy."

"Come on. Merle and Darius had a small argument this morning." Amy said and she helped me up off the bed. I stumbled a little but other than that, I was okay.  
"Oh? What about?" She grinned a bit.  
"He sneered at Daryl and insulted him a little." She explained, "Merle's pretty protective of his brother. When they first arrived, Merle told us that he basically raised him. We don't know much else." I nodded.  
"Thank you, Amy, for even worrying about me." I said as genuinely as I could with a headache. She smiled at me.  
"It's okay, Vivian. Us girls have to stick together. And there was something about you when I first saw you… I don't know… I guess I just knew we'd be friends." She linked our arms together so it would be easier for me to walk and we exited the tent.

"Actually, I'm surprised at Merle's and Daryl's behaviour. They've been surprisingly… what's the word I'm looking for?" I cocked my head.  
"Mellow?" She looked at me with confusion and agreement.  
"Exactly…" She said with a slightly freaked out tone. I just shrugged with a grin. Amy continued. "Anyway, yeah, they've been pretty mellow. Merle definitely doesn't like Darius at all and both the Dixons have some kind of… mutual respect for you. I dunno… It's weird." She finished with a little smile. I smirked and we came to the middle of the campsite. There were some leftovers being handed around the site.

"Hey, is it true that you… Ya know… All of that stuff that Darius said last night… Was that all true?" I sighed and nodded.  
"Yes, all of it. To be honest, I don't mind all of you knowing. It's finding out that Darius touched me and I didn't even register it." I grimaced and cringed at the very thought. Shudders ran down my spine and Amy patted my back with sympathy.  
"Geez… I'm sorry you got sided with that guy for a day… What a son of a bitch…" I nodded fervently in agreement.

"So, I take it that you and Darius aren't on speaking terms anymore?" Amy already knew the answer' she a had little smirk on her face. I returned it and shrugged.  
"To be honest, he'll probably try and talk to me anyway. I don't get him. I met him yesterday and all it is is 'flirt flirt flirt'. It pisses me right off." Amy giggled a little and I looked at her with an amused frown and smile.  
"Your accent is really pronounced when you get angry. It sounds different compared to everyone else I talk to." She explained and I chuckled breathily.  
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Before Amy could speak again, a male voice spoke from behind us.

"Has tha' boy been tryin' anythin' with you?" Merle asked, his posture casual but his eyes indicating he was pissed off already. I shook my head. Merle seemed… nice… In a strange sort of way. He didn't seem likable but I liked him anyway. "I haven't seen him since Amy," I nudged her, "woke me up." She laughed a little and Merle looked around the campsite.  
"Well, he w's headin' down to the wa'erfall last I saw him." He explained and I sighed with irritation.  
"Damn it." I muttered. "As soon as he gets back, I'll be flying down there." Both of my new friends (could I call them that now?) laughed a little. Merle stepped forwards and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Me an' Daryl was talkin' las' night and we ain't gonna take none of tha' boy's shit. So if he starts gettin' all in your grill, you jus' call us an' one of us'll come runnin'." He looked at me for a moment longer and I nodded gratefully.  
"Thank you, Merle. I'm glad someone understands how difficult it is to have a moron like that around." He had a small grin for a moment, patted my shoulder, and walked over to his brother, who was eating and watching our interactions. Amy looked at me as I looked at her and we both broke into surprised grins at the same time.

"That's not something you see every day. Merle Dixon and Daryl Dixon offering _protection_!" Amy laughed, "They're gonna be just like your bodyguards!" I laughed at the thought of that.  
"Let's not get too carried away, Amy. Bodyguards? Hah!" We giggled some more as we approached Dale and Andrea. Andrea smiled at us both, her smile to me a little forced, and Dale grinned hugely. "Good to see that you're up, Vivian. We were getting worried." Dale greeted, "I'd have thought you wouldn't be up until tomorrow, at the very least." I shrugged sheepishly.  
"Well, I do hate to sleep." I said as jokingly as I could.

"We've got leftovers from last night for breakfast. There'll be a scavenge today, by the way. We're sending T-Dog, Glenn and Morales this time, just to let you know. They'll bring back your tents, sleeping bags, things like that, so if you want anything in particular, just go and ask them." I nodded in appreciation.  
"Thank you, Dale." He smiled warmly and nodded at us all before making his way back to his RV.

"Are you hungry, Vivian?" Andrea asked with her hands on her hips and a gentle smile. My stomach grumbled in response and we laughed a little. "I guess there's our answer." She continued. She took me by the elbow. "Come on, me and Amy haven't had breakfast yet either. We'll go sit with Lori, Carl and Shane." I nodded, although a little disheartened. I had been hoping to speak to Merle and Daryl some more since they were adamant on 'protecting' me. I don't know if Andrea noticed this and disapproved or if she was impatient with my speed, but she pulled me a little more and set me down beside Carl and Lori. She and Amy sat beside Shane, though with a good distance between them.

"Can I see your sword?" Carl asked timidly after a few minutes of silent eating. I looked at his mother and she seemed hesitant but she nodded at me anyway. I went to take the blade from my belt but there was nothing there. I looked down in confusion and I saw Amy fight to swallow quickly. "Oh, I took your sword off your belt because I figured you'd be uncomfortable sleeping with it on you. It's just in the tent, I can go and get it for you?" She offered. I shook my head and put my plate down.  
"It's fine, I'll get it. Besides, I need the exercise. Don't want to gain any pounds in the apocalypse." I joked and some of them cracked a smile. I looked down at Carl. "I'll be right back with that sword." He nodded with a smile and I began to walk to the tent. I smiled gently with a nod at everyone I passed.

I stooped into the tent and looked around for the blade. It wasn't on the side, it wasn't under the bed and it wasn't tucked with the shoes. I frowned and went back to the door. "Hey, Amy!" I called. She turned to look at me as some others looked to see what I was shouting about. "Where exactly did you put the sword?"  
"I just put it by the bed!" She replied loudly. I frowned and looked back. Nope, wasn't there. I turned back to her.  
"It's not there!"  
"Looking for this?" An annoying Texan accent sounded from the trees and I turned to see Darius leaning against a tree, eying my sword and my chest. I narrowed my eyes at him and in my peripheral vision, I could see the Dixon boys tense, even from where I was standing. I managed to sneak in the Look at Amy and she nodded slightly. "Yes, I am. Return it, if you will." I said with as much civility as I could muster. He smirked and kicked off from the tree, swaggering over like he ran the place. _He doesn't swagger like Daryl. Daryl has cool swagger. Oh, God, please silence this voice in my head…_ He leaned into my ear and I could feel his moist breath. "Come and get it then." He muttered. I growled and shoved him away.

"I'm not going to play a game, Darius. Give me back my sword and I won't have to hurt you." I said dangerously. He didn't flinch, sadly, but he did twitch his finger, a tell-tale sign of being uncomfortable. He snorted to cover it up. "And I should be afraid of you? You've gotta be kidding me." He laughed. "Who here is afraid of Vivian, here? Huh?" He shouted for the entire site to hear. Everyone who hadn't been watching turned to see what was going on.  
"Darius, stop making a fool out of yourself. I'm going to show the sword to Carl. If you want to disappoint a child, be my guest." I put my hands on my hips and he grinned.  
"Vivian, I don't care about children anyway." He said as though he were commenting on the weather. My eyes narrowed even further.

"So? Who's scared of little Miss Vivian, here? Huh? Come on, no one's gonna make fun of you for being such a pussy!" Darius continued. My fists were clenched and I focussed on breathing properly. Damn, this boy really knew how to wind me up. Slowly, Merle stood up. He looked at Darius first, and then he looked at everyone else. "I don' know abou' you people, bu' I sure as hell am afrai' of Vivian." He said proudly with a big grin on his face. I looked at him with confusion, surprise and then a small smile worked its way on my face. Daryl followed.  
"Hell yeah, I'm scared of Vivian. Any of you see her almos' kick tha' kid's ass las' nigh'? 'Cause I did! And it was the funnies' damn thing I've seen in a long time!" I chuckled lowly to myself at them. Darius' nostrils were flaring, no doubt, at being outsmarted.

"Why don' you give tha' sword back to Vivian, huh? Tha' way, no one ge's hurt." Daryl tried to reason and I could see everyone's faces were tense and surprised. The Dixon brothers must have been really unlikable for people to be so surprised at this. Maybe they picked fights more than they split them up. Darius scoffed. "Who are you to tell me what to do, huh, Dixon? Either of you? You're just trailer trash." That reminded me too much of my parents.

I kicked his knee forwards so he stumbled. I then flicked out with my wrist and I caught his nose. He howled in pain before I jabbed my elbow into his gut. He doubled over and I just pushed him over to the floor. The Texan clutched at his stomach and I stood over him, wrenching my sword from his feeble grip. I kneeled down, placing the blade at his throat. "If you ever say anything like that again, I won't hesitate in hurting you even worse. You should count yourself lucky that I wasn't armed at the time." He glared at me.  
"You're sticking up for that trash over there? Jesus, you're nuts." I pressed the blade a little more against his neck and he swallowed, sweating beading up at his forehead and dropping to the dirt.  
"You're just like my parents. You insult anyone different from you. It's people like you that are gonna get what remains of the human race killed. You ought to be ashamed, but you're not. You're probably jumping with glee inside, aren't you?" He nodded with a little maniac grin. I removed the sword from his throat and straightened. "I wonder… Will anyone mourn your death when you get your stupid arse into trouble and there's no one there to save you? 'Cause I sure as hell won't."  
"No one's gonna mourn you either, Vivian. You ain't got no one." He countered.  
"I know that. Cry me a river, why don't you?" I said sarcastically, and with that, I walked over to Lori, Shane, Carl, Andrea and Amy and sat down. Well, Shane had actually disappeared. I handed the blade to Carl.

"Careful, it's sharp." I warned with a little smile and once Carl had gotten over the initial shock of what had happened, he began to inspect it with an awed expression on his face. I heard some scuffling and turned to see Merle dragging Darius to his feet with a sneer. Daryl looked over at me and he inclined his head; a silent question. I nodded with a small smile. I then looked back at Carl and then at Amy. "I'm gonna go to that waterfall now." I informed her and straightened. As if on cue, Andrea nudged Amy.  
"We gotta do our washing, remember?" She said with a small smile. Amy nodded with disappointment and she looked up at me apologetically.  
"Sorry, Vivian… Lori, could you take her?" Lori shook her head.  
"No, I've gotta do some tidying in the tents." She replied.

"I'll take her." A male voice came from behind me and spinning around, I found Daryl standing with his crossbow slung up on his shoulder. I shrugged and peered at Amy.  
"Couldn't hurt." I said, with a silent question in my eyes. She nodded and replied with her own blue eyes: '_I think he likes you_.' I almost scoffed but I nodded instead. Andrea and Amy stood and made their way down to the Quarry with Jacqui and Carol while Lori stood and made her way to the tents. I noticed that she wasn't heading to her own tent; in fact, she was heading in the opposite direction. I frowned after her but shook my head. Daryl nodded to me and beckoned for me to follow. I did.

We went quite deep into the forest actually. We didn't find any Walkers, thank God, but there wasn't much wildlife either. We were about halfway when I tried to spark a conversation. Or at least express my gratitude to him. "Thank you." He looked at me side-long.  
"For what?" He asked, stepping over a log. I stepped over it after.  
"For offering to help me. At all. You helped me when I collapsed, you helped me to Amy and Andrea's tent, you even put me to bed, you backed me up this morning and you're helping me right now, taking me to the waterfall. I'd say that merits a 'Thank You'." I listed, counting them off on my fingers. He looked at me with confusion.  
"No one's ever said 'Thank You' before." Daryl muttered. I stopped in shock. He looked back at me.  
"No one?" I questioned. He shook his head.

"But… Come on, you must have helped plenty of people. After all, you hunt and bring back all of the food and everything! Someone _must_ have said 'Thank You' at least once!" Daryl shrugged.  
"Nope. Not a one."  
"I can't even… comprehend that. I refuse to believe that I'm the first person to thank you." The hunter chuckled a little.  
"Well, you best start believin'. 'Cause that's how it is." I shook my head with a smile.  
"Well, I'm going to be thanking you a lot, I reckon." I warned him and he smirked a little. _Damn, that smirk makes his little mole just look… Damn, his smirk alone! Oh, shut up._ We came to a stop and I realised we were at the waterfall already. It was beautiful, despite its size. It fell from a higher level where there was no doubt a stream. It was probably the one people got their water from, if not from the Quarry. "You forgot your stuff." Daryl's voice jerked me out of my stupor and I looked at him weirdly. He raised an eyebrow. "Your hair stuff." He reminded me.  
"Oh…" I muttered and looked back at the waterfall. "I don't have any of that stuff. I've only got my sword and my bike." I explained.  
"Your bike?" I nodded in response.  
"Yeah, but it's out of gas." He nodded as well.

"I'll go get some gel or somethin'." Daryl said simply and made to leave. I half-ran up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.  
"No, you don't have to do that! I'll be fine, I just need a wash. I can use that sort of stuff tomorrow or something." I urged but he shook his head.  
"Nah, 's fine. I'll go get some. 'Sides, don' wan' your pretty hair gettin' all greasy." I think my heart stopped a little when he said that. I tugged at my plain brown hair limply and frowned at him, but he was already walking away, his strutting making it impossible for me to keep my eyes off of his arse. He turned abruptly and I tore my eyes away just in time. Or so I thought. "And don' think I don' know you're eying my ass ev'ry time I walk away." He called, winked and began to walk away again, leaving me alone in a forest.

'_All In A Day's Work_'

Daryl still hadn't returned and I was getting anxious. I wasn't sure what was keeping him or if he was playing a trick on me or something. Looking back at the waterfall, I figured it might be a good idea to at least rinse. I was plodding over when I heard a rustle. I spun around, fists at the ready. My sword was still with Carl so if it was a Walker, I'd have to rely on using a rock or something. Another rustle and I backed against the rocks next to the water. I breathed deeply and steadied my heart. _Keep calm…_ It wasn't really necessary.

"Why were you late?" I heard a familiar grunt. Shane. A few more rustles and I could hear Shane and who he was with a little more clearly now.  
"Darius stepped out of line again." I heard a woman's voice: Lori.  
"What did he do this time?" Shane asked with a little groan. I frowned as I heard Lori gasp a little.  
"He stole Vivian's sword and provoked her, Merle and Daryl." She explained with a break in a sentence at 'Vivian's'. And then I realised what they were doing.

I scowled at myself and grimaced. Brilliant. They were having sex. Shower could come later. I began to walk away from the waterfall, making as little noise as possible. It was working too, until a hand sneaked out and covered my mouth. I almost screamed and wrestled my way out of my assailant's grip. Tried to, I mean. They had a grip like a vice and I could feel the muscles through their arms. They turned me around and I came face to face with Daryl instead, my chest pressed against his. I relaxed immediately. He grinned evilly and I slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't do that!" I whispered, unable to keep myself from smiling. He stooped to pick up the shampoo and stuff that he must have put on the floor in order to scare me and handed them to me. "Thank you." I said and then laughed quietly, "Hah, told you I would be thanking you a lot more." He chuckled lightly. And then I remembered why I was being quiet.

"Did you know that Shane and Lori have been shagging each other secretly?" I asked him as casually as I could. It was difficult when you're speaking to an impossibly attractive man that has helped you countless times. He frowned.  
"They're what?" He asked, his voice now lower and more gruff. I cocked my head.  
"Shagging." His face didn't change. "Oh, right, it means that they're having sex." He nodded in understanding and then shook his head.  
"How'd you know?" I could feel my face go red and I pointed to the bushes where I heard the small conversation. As if to prove me right, a loud gasp broke through the otherwise silent forest and I blushed even more. Daryl's eyebrows shot up and then he grinned at me, revelling in my awkwardness. I shoved him a little and shooed him away. He left with a satisfied grin on his face.

As soon as he was out of sight, I dashed over to the waterfall and went to wash as soon as possible. I wanted to be out of the vicinity as soon as possible. I stripped my clothes off quickly after making a quick perimeter check and stood under the water. It felt good but I couldn't take too long. I finished quickly and pulled my clothes back on. I was about halfway back again when there was another rustle. This time, I didn't panic. "Daryl, come out of the bushes, I know it's you." But it wasn't. When I turned around, a Walker was staring at me, hoping to feed off of my flesh.

The scream was tearing itself through my throat before I could stop it and the Walker staggered towards me. I backed away and hit a tree. _Damn it! I need my sword!_ Its hands were reaching for me and it grabbed my shoulders, trying to bite my neck or my face or anything it could. I just kept screaming; it would alert everyone at the site. I managed to kick it away from me and I searched frantically for a rock or a stick. A stick would have to do since that was all I could find. I grabbed it and straightened just in time to dodge the snapping jaws.

"Vivian!" I heard a man scream but I couldn't identify who it was; I was focussed on killing this fucker. I growled at the Walker and widened my stance. "You motherfucker… Didn't you know it's rude to frighten a lady?" I asked it, knowing full well it couldn't answer, and then swung the branch stick thing at its head. It fell back and I snapped the end off of the stick. Thankfully, it was sharper than before. I looked down at it and instead of saying some clever line, I just stabbed the stick straight into its brain.

My chest heaving and still damp from my super quick shower, I pushed my hair from my face and wiped the blood off my cheeks as well. I turned to see all of the men (excluding Ed) from the site, Amy, Andrea and Jacqui standing there, looking shocked. "I just had a shower…" I complained with a sigh. I looked down at the now not walking Walker and kicked its head, the stick moving with it. "Son of a bitch…" I muttered.  
"You took it down without your sword?" Glenn said, awe-struck. I raised an eyebrow.  
"Yes… Granted, it would have been easier _with_ it but I think I managed it." Merle blew out a big breath and started laughing a little.

"I don' think we need to go aroun' lookin' after this girl, bro." Merle informed his brother but Daryl didn't say anything. He still seemed shocked, for whatever reason.  
"Vivian!" I looked at Amy and she ran over and hugged me tightly. I was surprised at the affection but it wasn't unwanted. So I returned the hug. "I thought you would get killed." She muttered. I chuckled and pulled away.  
"It's gonna take a lot more than some Walker to take me down." I comforted her and she grinned, her eyes damp. Andrea approached us and tugged Amy away.  
"Come on, we've gotta finish that washing." She mumbled, throwing a glance back at me. I had the feeling that Andrea wasn't very fond of me. I wasn't overly keen on her either to be honest. Amy resisted for a moment but then allowed her sister to tow her away. As they left, the rest of the men left, leaving Daryl, Merle, Darius and Dale.

"Well, I guess it's safe to say that we won't need to worry about you so much, Vivian." Dale said, still surprised at my victory. I just smiled sheepishly.  
"Too right, old man." Merle muttered in agreement, whistling in admiration at my 'handiwork'. Darius just sneered.  
"A man could do it better if you ask me." He scowled.  
"Well no one did, did they?" Daryl jumped at the opportunity to insult Darius, Darius jumping in term to his raised voice. Dale nodded to me and made his way back to camp, dragging Darius with him gently. Darius followed, throwing glares back at us. "What a lovely man." I remarked with contempt and strode over to the boys. "Come on, I wanna change out of this and that son of a bitch just made me all bloody again."

**This took me a while to think of how I was going to do this chapter. I've OFFICIALLY decided that these are just introductory chapters. This is just how Vivian and Darius came into the camp and I'll be doing one shots (probably not chronological order) of their time in the different camps. Obviously, Vivian/Daryl FTW and Darius/No one 'cause he's a loner and a son of a bitch too. There'll be multiple first kisses or something. So, unless I state it, previous one shots didn't happen in any others. That doesn't make any sense… Okay, so if I make one about when they're at camp, let's say, and it's a fight between Vivian and Shane, I could make a one shot **_**later **_**and in **_**that **_**one shot, the fight didn't happen. Like that. Hope that makes sense to some of you guys. Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna **


	4. What's Right And What's Wrong

**What's Right And What's Wrong **

I stormed out of the house angrily. How dare they! How could they do that? He was a human being! 'We don't shoot the living.' That's what Rick said, for Christ's sake! Only Dale, Andrea and I refused to be a part of it. Andrea was still being awful to me but this was the first thing in ages that we had agreed on. "Vivian!" I heard the familiar southern voice. I rolled my eyes. I turned slowly to find Daryl running down the steps and across the grass to me. It was strange for me to see him in a shirt, of sorts. He usually had a vest, or a top with ripped sleeves, or just a shirt with no sleeves. "What do you want, Daryl?" I demanded hoarsely, choking on my tears of how unfair it was. It didn't matter what Randall did; he had the right to stay alive. Who were we to be Judge, Jury and Executioner?

"Look, Randall's outta control. You can' jus' stick up for tha' son of a bitch!" He shouted angrily.  
"And you can't condemn a man to death, Daryl!" I shrieked at him, tears now spilling over my lids. I hadn't cried in a while. But this was different. A man's life was at stake. I couldn't let him die.  
"He nearly killed Rick, Hershel and Glenn! He almos' killed 'em!" Daryl hollered, trying to make me see sense.  
"But he's a human being! He's a _human_ _being_, Daryl! He's one of us! It doesn't matter what he's done! It doesn't matter who he was before the outbreak!" I screamed, "It doesn't matter who he is now! We! Can't! Kill! Him!" I had gotten so delirious that I had started hitting Daryl, pounding on his chest and arms. "I won't let another man die! No! I won't! Don't make me do this, Daryl!" Sadly, he was much stronger than me, and grabbed my wrists, holding them together with just one hand and he placed the other on my cheek as gently as he could.

"Vivian." He muttered and I stopped abruptly, breathing heavily, sniffling loudly and gasping. "Vivian, I know you don' wanna do this… But he almos' killed three of our mos' importan' people. Rick's our leader. 'F he dies, we have to listen to Deputy Dickhead, an' I don' know 'bout you but I ain' gonna follow _his_ orders." I sniffed and nodded mutely. "Hershel's our doctor. We lose him, we lose other people too. We lose him, and we lose chances of survivin'. An' Glenn's our scavenger. He's smart. We need him if we gotta survive. You know that." Damn this stupid, attractive man.

"I just don't want another man's blood on my hands." I whimpered and hung my head with shame. Daryl released my wrists and wrapped both of his arms around my waist, holding me tight. He shushed me as I sobbed a little more. It was unfair that human beings like us had to be executed. It didn't matter how humane the kill was, it was still murder. And I couldn't live with that again. Not again.

"You won't have to. It's no' your fault." Daryl mumbled and I shook my head.  
"It is because I could stop it." I replied, "We just need to give him a chance. Please, Daryl, please, you have to see where I'm coming from." I glanced up at him, no doubt looking an absolute sight, and he just stared at me, his mental decisions and his emotions clashing. I waited patiently and hopefully, praying that he would agree with me. Maybe he'd help me. "Daryl?" I asked timidly. He sighed and closed his eyes, laying his forehead on mine.  
"I can't. That'd be 4 against 9. We wouldn't win." He muttered and I sighed as well, closing my own eyes.  
"It's not fair." I whispered.  
"When the world ended, all the fairness and justice wen' with it."  
"He doesn't deserve to live… But who are we to take that away from him?" Daryl shrugged a little, but I couldn't see his face or if his eyes were now open. My grip on his shirt tightened. "We're supposed to all pull together. As a team. Our entire race has been separated. It's just… It's stupid." Daryl chuckled throatily.  
"Stupid, huh?" I opened my eyes to find him looking down at me with a smirk on his face. I laughed a little, thinking about silly that sounded.  
"Yeah, it's pretty stupid, Mr Dixon." I concluded and he snickered a little more. I shoved him playfully and he just smirked some more.

"Shut it, Dixon." I warned, unable to keep the smile off of my face. Damn that man. I'd been feeling really _really_ attracted to him as of late. I mean, yes, I'd been attracted to him since I first met him, but that was… how long ago? That was… 4 months, I think… Jesus Christ. Hah, they say that if you're still interested in the same guy for 4 months, that's the borderline from having a crush and being in love. So… I guess that means I'm in love with Daryl Dixon. I think I can deal with that.

So, I had that revelation while I was in a semi-close proximity with said man. Great timing, Vivian. Great timing. Daryl frowned at me. "What's wrong?" I looked at him in confusion.  
"What do you mean?" He stepped a bit closer and pointed at my face.  
"You've gone all red. You comin' down with a fever or somethin'?" Yes, let him believe that.  
"Oh, uh, yeah, I dunno, probably. I feel sort of weird." That wasn't technically lying. I was feeling a little strange, but it was like… Cloud 6 kind of strange. If by some incredible miracle Daryl returned the feelings, I'd be Cloud 8. First kiss or some shit like that… Cloud 9… I need to stop thinking about this.

"Ya wanna lie down? You have jus' shouted the farm to Texas and back." I narrowed my eyes at his poor choice of words. Immediately, he put his hands up in realisation and surrender.  
"Hmph." Was all I said, and I walked away from him. I could hear him sniggering away to himself as he followed me, no doubt walking his confident swagger walk.  
"Oh, come on, Vivian, I was jus' jokin'." He tried to amend for his mistake but it would not work. No, it would not! I 'Hmph'd again and quickened my pace. I could imagine him scratching the back of his neck, thinking about how to make it up to me or something. I knew Daryl pretty well by now. He was my closest friend, and I spoke to him most of all. When nothing was going on, we'd either sit in silence or we'd sit and just talk. Any time either of us had nothing to do, we'd go find each other and watch the other work, or help with working the perimeter. We were pretty chummy. Or you could say that we only truly trusted each other. There were rumours circulating around camp that we were _together_. Oh, I wish Amy was here… I miss her. So much. She became like my sister. Oh, great, I feel like crying again. Suck it up, bitch.

I had just gotten to the fence near the trees when I snapped out of my thoughts. All of our tents were pitched there but no one was there. Everyone was still in the house. Oh, this is going to sound weird, but Daryl and I share a tent actually. Yeah, it sounds weird… Oh man, I wish I could take that back. Basically, I can only sleep properly (without nightmares) when my knight in shining armour, Mr Dixon, is near. Daryl has no dreams whatsoever but he claims that when I am near, he can dream, and they tend to be rather pleasant. Actually, he's taken to climbing into my bed recently… Not sure what that's about but I'm not complaining.

A hand grabbed at my right wrist and pulled me back before I could climb over the fence and before I knew it, I was boxed in against the fence with nowhere to go. Daryl, of course, stood with a triumphant smirk upon his face, the sly devil. I glared at him and tried to push his arms out so that I could escape and hyperventilate where he couldn't see me. But, of course, he's stronger than me. So, I tried a new tactic. I tried to climb up the fence backwards. Awesome, I know. It was sort of difficult and just as I got the hang of it, Daryl ruined my fun and pulled me back down again. I had half a mind to duck underneath his arms but he'd probably just put a foot forward. "You en't goin' nowhere." Daryl muttered proudly. I rolled my eyes and continued trying to formulate a plan. "Any las' words?" Come on, come on, come on, come – OH! Aha! Evil laugh!

I mouthed one word. It was a rather crafty plan, I think. Not only did it make him confused, but it also gave me a possible reaction to what he would do if I said the real thing. Basically, if one mouthed the word 'colourful', it looks like one is saying 'I love you'. It's a very smart trick actually. Very fun too. So that's what I said. Well, mouthed. And his reaction was quite… unexpected? He frowned for a moment and then leaned into my ear, his lips brushing my ear. I could feel his stubble against my cheek but I didn't recoil. Stubble is cool. "Would ya mind repeatin' that for me?" He pulled back, registering the blush that was no doubt on my face, and waited. I mouthed it again and his brow crinkled once more. "I've seriously no idea if what you're sayin' is really what you're sayin'." Aha, so it was working. I mouthed it again. He waited for a moment more and then he scoffed.  
"Fuck it." He mumbled and then he kissed me.

I will say now, it was very nice, thank you. I enjoyed it. It was chaste and innocent. Just a simple kiss. But it lasted for longer than a normal kiss would be. After getting over the initial shock (it took me about several seconds), I barely managed to respond. My response made him kiss me with more vigour and I could feel my hands sneak up to his neck, the crafty little devils. His own hands moved from blocking me into the fence and instead snaked around my waist, just like the many times that they had done that just before I fell asleep.

It was a couple of minutes later when we finally broke apart. I suppose oxygen is pretty essential. But then again, kissing Daryl Dixon was pretty crucial too. I couldn't stop myself from gasping for breath and licking my lips. I glanced up at him surreptitiously but found him already looking at me. Well, it's not really surreptitious, since I've just bloody kissed him. After a silence of a few more seconds, I spoke. "What did you think I said?" I asked with a little smirk. He snorted a little.  
"I know what ya said." He said adamantly. I removed my hands from his hair (when did they get there?) and crossed my arms.  
"Oh, really? Would you care to tell me then?" He looked at me a moment more and then leaned in again.  
"Colourful." He murmured, leaned back, winked and began to walk off. Damn that hot, stupid, attractive man. Oh, look, I'm on Cloud 9…

**Well, that was my first one shot. It ought to be labelled one shit to be honest. It's awful. I've made it too fluffy, haven't I? Ugh, god damn it. It's either too smutty or too fluffy. Typical. Well, let me know how you feel about this one. I've got billions of ideas that keep popping into my head the more I watch the show. Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna **


	5. Crippled

**Crippled **

I was reading a book with my bad leg propped up when Rick and Deputy Dickhead walked past me, Andrea and T-Dog. "Morning guys. Let's get going." He announced, "Got a lot of ground to cover." I sighed inwardly and folded a corner of my page. After placing it down, I stood up, following him and Shane to our usual 'plan point'. Which, in fact, was the bonnet of Rick's car. I think it was Rick's. I'm not too sure. I came to a stop on T-Dog's right side. I felt a hand on the small of my back for a second and looked to my right to find Daryl standing beside me. I smiled at him and he nodded. I had injured my leg when trying to pull Glenn out of the well. When the pump had broken, I had slipped and hit my leg hard on the side of the well, since I was positioned next to the well to direct the rope and to tell the group when to start and stop pulling. It was pretty bruised and my ankle was swollen but I could still sort of walk on it. It just hurt like a bitch.

"Alright. Everyone's getting new search grids today." Rick informed us. I didn't particularly mind. I was often with Andrea when we were patrolling so it was a good thing that we got to change now. Even from where I was stood, I could feel Andrea's relief rise and my own hope increase. Maybe, I'd be partnered with Daryl. "If she made it as far as the farm house Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far." Shane almost rolled his eyes as he opened the car door and I scowled at him. He had lost hope for Sophia. I wouldn't give up on her just yet though. Sophia and I had bonded quite a bit. Her mother and I not so much, but I wouldn't let Carol feel that pain. She'd already lost her husband, she didn't need to lose a daughter as well.

"I'd like to help." A new voice sounded and all of our heads turned to a boy called Jimmy, Beth's boyfriend. He stood with his hands in his pockets but his tone was eager despite his demeanour. He had short hair and pale skin. I glanced at Daryl, who was pulling a shirt on over his vest. He looked at me after gazing at the boy with a subtle sign of mistrust. "I know the area pretty well and stuff." Jimmy continued.  
"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked, not wanting to anger our host. If he did, we'd be packing tomorrow.  
"Yeah, yeah, uh, he said I should ask you." Jimmy assured him. Rick sighed a little and appeared to be weighing his options, just in case.  
"Alright then, thanks." He caved. Jimmy nodded.

"'Bout what Daryl found screaming Sophia, to me, anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse." Skinhead piped up from behind the door. I couldn't see him but I knew that he was probably scowling.  
"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea interjected, and for once, I agreed with her.  
"Well," Daryl spoke, "Whoever slept in them covers is no bigger than yay-high." He demonstrated with his hand how big the person would be and I tilted my head. Sophia was about that big.  
"Good lead." Andrea complimented.  
"Maybe we'll pick up our trail again." Rick said.

"Well I'm gonna borrow a horse," Daryl reached over the map and pointed out a location, "and head up to this ridge right here. Get a bird's eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there I'll spot her."  
"Good idea." T-Dog said.  
"I'll go with you." I volunteered but Daryl almost immediately shook his head.  
"Uh uh, you'll be stayin' right here." He said firmly. I frowned indignantly.  
"And why is that?" I retorted. He cocked an eyebrow, staring at me as if I was insane.  
"Your leg ain't even healed yet." He countered and I rolled my eyes.

"He has a point, Vivian." Skinhead pointed out, now standing and watching the little argument between Daryl and me. I glowered at Shane and put my hands on my hips, making sure to keep as little weight on my right leg as possible. "I didn't ask for your input, Shane." I hissed. He threw up his hands in surrender, muttering away to himself and glancing at Rick. Rick sighed and looked at me.  
"Vivian, I think it would be best that you stay behind on this one." He said gently and I slumped a little.  
"Oh come on, Rick, it's only a few bruises." Daryl snorted.  
"Yeah, and a near broken ankle. How are you gonna defend yourself agains' any Walkers we meet, huh? I'm ain't gonna be there to protect you all the time. You'll be stuck on a horse all day." He had a point. Damn it.

"So? I feel like I'm not doing anything! I feel like I'm not trying to help find Sophia!" I argued. Daryl still refused to cave, the stupid attractive man.  
"What if the horse bucks? You'll be in worse wear than you already are." Oh for God's sake.

"I don't care, Daryl. I _want_ to help. I'm not doing anything if I'm here. You're making it sound like I can barely walk!" Andrea decided to put her own two cents in.  
"Look, Vivian, stop being a child and just stay here for the day." She sighed, as though I really were a child. I glared at her.  
"I don't recall asking for your input either, Andrea. And I don't see how I'm being a child about this. I'm wanting to help search for a little girl and you're calling me a child?" This woman has it in for me. She blames me for Amy's death too. Always has, always will. Huzzah for me.

"Vivian, Andrea and Daryl, stop arguing." Rick said calmly. I didn't speak but I continued to glare at the blonde woman, who didn't mind returned the heated look. Daryl just shifted his stance and put a hand on my shoulder, which I shrugged off. "Look, Vivian, you're not in any condition to search for Sophia, do a perimeter or even do washing. What you need to do, is let Hershel check you over." Rick ordered. I could feel a pout coming on but I fought it. No need to act like a child. Andrea would relish it.

So, instead, I just scoffed a little, waved my hand as if to say 'Screw you guys' and limped off.

'_Crippled_'

Hershel had told me that my ankle would be just fine by tomorrow but I should take it easy. My leg would heal eventually but there was no reason why I couldn't do chores or some running. So, as I chopped wood, I felt very smug indeed, yes I did. Lori walked past with a basket of washing and she watched me work with an impressed look on her face. "You've done more than 50 logs in half an hour. That's pretty impressive… Aren't you over-working yourself?" She voiced her thoughts and I wiped the sweat off my brow with a little grin.  
"Well, since the men and Andrea were so adamant on leaving me here, I figured I'd just get us enough firewood for another week or so. Just to prove that I'm not a child to Andrea and that I'm not crippled to Daryl." I explained. Lori chuckled and placed the basket down, beginning to peg out washing.  
"The men ought to be back soon. Then they can admire your handiwork too." She complimented. It was always difficult for me to take them, so I passed it off, slamming the axe into another hunk of wood.  
"Meh, it's just chopping. It's just about stamina really. I suppose you need _some_ strength in your triceps and biceps and a smidge of control but it's not that impressive." I shouldered the compliment away, refusing to hear it. Lori might have noticed it, but I ignored it.  
"Either way, it's a pretty good achievement." Lori pressed on. After a few moments of silence, she spoke again.

"Are you and Daryl in a relationship?" I stopped hacking away for a moment and stared at her. Me and Daryl? Whaa? I don't…  
"No." I replied bluntly and then continued chopping. I didn't see her expression but I'm pretty sure it was surprised.  
"Do you _want_ to be in a relationship with him?" She questioned curiously. I could see that I wasn't going to get any more wood done so I threw the axe into the chopping block and sighed.

"Why do you want to know, Lori?" I asked, albeit with a little bit of an accusing tone, "You've never bothered asking me about this kind of stuff before. Why now? You're not my mother, you're not my sister, you're not my best friend… Why do you want to know?" I didn't mean to blow up a little but it slipped out. I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't react badly. She pegged up one last shirt, one of Dale's I recognised, and looked at me. "You lost Amy. I understand that she wasn't your sister, and that Andrea must be in more pain than you, but she's gone hostile to most people, especially you. You and Amy were so close and then you lost her, and now Andrea blames you." She explained, "What I'm trying to say is that I like you more than I like Andrea. I want to help you when only a girl can be there to help you. I understand that I'm not your mother and that I'm not your sister or your best friend. I get curious about you and I worry. It's not something I can control." She paused and then she smiled bitterly. "Oh Lord, I sound like Dale now. Don't go all Andrea on my ass."

I chuckled a little and thought through what she said. Lori and Carol had the mothering instinct. Lori wanted to look after me and I think Carol wants to look after Daryl. I'll admit, when I first came to the camp, I wasn't very fond of Lori. I could see that she was having some sort of affair with Shane, despite her belief of her husband being dead. I could understand that she thought he was dead and was trying to move on but that was only a month after Deputy Dickhead told her that Rick was dead. And then, when Rick turned out to be _alive_, she gave Shane the cold shoulder, didn't listen to his side of the story (which I don't really care about to be honest) and acted pretty bitchy to everyone. But, now that Shane is backing off a little, or seems to be, she's been a lot more social and I've grown to like her a little more now. It seems that she likes me too.

"… Why do you like me more than Andrea?" Was the question weighing most heavily on my mind. She licked her lips and appeared to be choosing her words carefully.  
"I… I think that when you get angry, you always have a good reason. You're angry for justice, like Rick. Like today, you wanted to be out there, searching for Sophia but you couldn't go because of your ankle. Your anger showed me that you wanted to try your hardest to protect that little girl whether you were injured or not. I admire that in you." She paused for a moment and cleared her throat, "And I see Rick in you. You're always reasonable and you like to listen to what everyone has to say, but you still have your own opinion. You fight for what's right." She finished. I was frozen for a moment or two, but then I smiled a little.

"I'll admit, I was a little surprised about the Rick thing. I've never compared myself to Rick or anyone before, but to be anything _like_ Rick is something I am satisfied with. Rick is an admirable man and a good man. He's an exceptional leader but he does what's right." Lori smiled.  
"It's nice when someone compliments my husband. Everyone seems to be so… pissed off at him recently. I'd _love_ to see everyone else try and be our leader. Because I know, and you know, that no one would do any better. Maybe some wouldn't do any worse but no one could do better. He's trying his hardest." I nodded in agreement. Lori held out the washing basket to me and I took it with a frown. "Here, take this to put the wood in. It might take a while to lug all of that wood to the fire pit." I thanked her but shook my head.  
"It'll be quicker for me to just take them in my arms. Taking less will make me quicker on my feet. Besides, it'll be better for my leg." I then grinned at the sky, "Oh man, I can't wait to see the men's faces when they see what I've done." Lori laughed and took the basket back.  
"Alright then, well, good luck and don't push yourself too hard."

Just as I was about to pick up some logs, she spoke again, startling me. "By the way, you didn't answer my question." I looked at her, still bent over.  
"What question?" I asked, grabbing some of the wood and piling them in my arms.  
"Do you _want_ to be in a relationship with Daryl?" I almost dropped all of the wood. I could feel my face flushing and by the smirk on her face, she could see it too.  
"Uh…" I stammered and she started laughing at my awkward situation.  
"You do? Oh my, this is just… Oh, I'm going to have some fun with this." She muttered to herself, looking at the basket. I stuck my tongue out at her, but I didn't put it back fast enough. She raised an eyebrow at my childish behaviour and I shrugged sheepishly. "Thank God Andrea didn't see me do that, huh?" Lori chuckled and nodded.  
"And thank God I'm not going to tell Daryl." She said evilly. Damn that sneaky woman.  
"Well, this has been a charming conversation, _Mother_, but I'd best be doing my chores now. Ta ta." I used my accent and 'British vocabulary' to make her laugh loudly and seized the opportunity to dash away with some logs in my arms.

I was on my third trip to the fire pit when everyone got back. Rick and Shane approached me first, Rick going to apologise for leaving me behind when he saw the amount of wood I had in my arms. "Where'd you get all that wood?" He questioned curiously. I shrugged nonchalantly.  
"I chopped it." His eyebrows shot up and Shane looked at me with interest.  
"You _chopped_ it? How much did you do?" I did a quick calculation in my head of the number of trips I had done, number of trips I had yet to do and the amount of wood I managed to carry each trip.  
"More than 50." A female voice startled me and I recognised it as Lori's.  
"She did more than 50 in half an hour." She said proudly, putting a hand on my shoulder with a big smile. I grinned cheekily at her.

"More than 50?" Shane spluttered and we both nodded smugly.  
"Indeed." I replied with a giddy smile. Rick stepped forwards with his hands on his hips.  
"And you didn't exert yourself? You haven't damaged your leg? Because you know Daryl will have my ass if you did." I rolled my eyes at the mention of Daryl.  
"He's not my father, Rick. I can take care of myself." Rick shared a look with Lori and then glanced back at me.  
"I wasn't referring to him as your father, Vivian. I was under the impression you two were… together." I rolled my eyes and chucked the logs on the pile with a satisfying bang and then threw my arms into the air with irritation.  
"Why does everyone keep saying that? We're not together, for Christ's sake!" I shouted irritably and stalked off for my next pile of logs.

I'm not sure why I was getting so fed up with everyone assuming we were together when we weren't. It was probably because I wanted to be with him. I _wanted_ to be in a relationship with Daryl, and all of these rumours about us being together when we weren't were making me agitated and nervous. What if Daryl didn't like these rumours? What if he wanted them to stop completely because they were just downright embarrassing? What if he was still angry at me for this morning and so didn't want anything to do with me? What if he hated me? Damn these stupid questions in my mind.

"Why isn't Daryl back yet?" I heard Lori asking Rick as I approached them again for my fourth trip to the pit. They both glanced at me when I walked over with a nod. Rick sighed and shrugged his shoulders a little. "I'm not sure… It's been about half an hour. He's never late unless it's for a good reason." I'll admit, I was starting to worry. What Rick said was true; Daryl was always punctual unless for a good reason. I was starting to get a little twitchy actually, which is a smidge embarrassing. Lori noticed and she placed a hand on my shoulder once I had unloaded the fourth batch of wood. I smiled grimly at her and continued with hauling. "Vivian, do you want any help with that?" I heard Shane, of all people, call after me. I looked at him and shook my head.  
"No, but thank you anyway, Shane. I did this to prove I'm not crippled and that I can still work. In fact, I'll work twice as hard as necessary when I'm injured." I said firmly and continued on my way.

After my seventh journey, I was really skittish. The sun was beginning to set and I was terrified for Daryl. "Where the fuck is he?" I muttered to myself as I emptied my arms of the logs. My limbs were aching like hell but I didn't care. For all I knew, Daryl was in worse pain than me. Hell, he could have impaled himself or been eaten by a Walker for all I knew and here I was complaining about my own body. "Worried now?" Lori spoke unexpectedly from behind me. I turned, breathing heavily from exerting myself for the day. "You've overworked yourself." She observed. I looked at my feet and then at the forest, half-expecting Daryl to just waltz on out of there and saying "Girl, you know I ain't gonna be taken down by some son of a bitch Walker." But he didn't.

"I don't care about myself at the moment. I'm frightened for Daryl, Lori." I turned to look at her and she was watching me intently. "I'm scared stiff. I don't know what's happened to him and I just…" I sighed and looked away. "I don't know how I can possibly help him when I don't know how to find him. If Daryl had stuck to his path, he'd be here by now. He's either stuck down there or he's gone to a different grid to cover more ground." Lori sighed herself and walked up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Daryl's gonna be just fine, Vivian. He knows how to take care of himself. It's you who needs to be taken care of. And I think it's Daryl who's been protecting you as of late. There's not much you can do now but wait. You've exerted yourself. You can't go out there and look for him. He'll come." She patted my shoulder. "I promise." She kissed the top of my forehead, as though I were Carl, and walked off. She was right though. Daryl had appointed himself, and his brother, as my bodyguards when I first arrived in camp. Though Merle had gone and I didn't need to be protected from… Darius… or Walkers anymore, he still took it upon himself to take care of me and make sure I was getting food and sleep. My guardian angel, if you will.

"Walker… Walker!" I looked at Andrea, whom was now standing up on the RV. I ran over to the RV as quickly as possible and peered at where she was looking. There was a figure staggering out of the forest. I blanked out the orders that Rick and Shane barked at each other while I worried about Daryl. If this was one Walker, did that mean that another had gotten Daryl? Had this one gotten Daryl? Oh Lord… All of the men sprinted off to where the Walker was walking slowly while I watched with my body all tense. A gun cocked and I looked up at Andrea. She had the scope to her eye and she was aiming for it. "Andrea, put the gun down. Let the men get it." She scowled at me.  
"Let the grownups handle this, Vivian." She sneered. Dale shook his head with a sigh.  
"Andrea, that was uncalled for. She's only trying to help." Andrea spoke over him.

"I don't care, Dale. She's getting her nose into things that don't concern her, as always." She argued and raised the gun to her face again. I tried again.  
"Look, Andrea, if you fire that gun, any other Walkers in the area will hear that sound and will come running." I warned her but she ignored me. After trying to aim some more, she growled in impatience and lowered to her stomach. "Andrea!" I reprimanded but still she aimed. Dale was thinking along the same lines as me.  
"Andrea, don't!" He pleaded.  
"Back off, Dale." She said simply and continued to look down the sights. And then she shot.

She grinned proudly but that soon turned to shock when we could all hear the men shout "No!"

"What on Earth's going on out here?" Hershel bellowed angrily. I turned to find everyone running out of the house to see what was happening. I ignored him and sprinted for my life down the field, rushing ahead of Andrea and Dale. _Oh my God, if that wasn't a Walker… OH GOD, NO!_ It was Daryl.

"Daryl! No!" I screamed and got there long before Andrea and Dale had even gotten down off of the RV. Rick and Shane picked him up and I rushed over to him. "Daryl, can you hear me?" He blinked blearily up at me as I held his face.  
"Vivian…" He muttered and leaned forwards, his forehead on mine. "Vivian…"  
"It's okay, Daryl, I'm here. I've got you." I comforted him though there were tears were streaming down my face. "It's okay, it's…" I looked at the side of his temple. It was a graze, thank God. "It's just a scratch. You'll live, I promise. You'll be fine." He ignored everything I said. Instead, he spoke about someone else.  
"Vivian, I saw Merle…" I froze. Rick and Shane tried to move him off but I kept Daryl still.  
"You what?" I whispered.  
"I… I saw him. He… He told me I ain't worth nothin'. He told me that ev'ryone hates me…" Daryl had been hallucinating, no doubt from blood loss. I shook my head incessantly.  
"No, no one thinks that, Daryl." I assured him, "No one thinks that. Rick doesn't hate you. Shane doesn't hate you. I don't hate you. I couldn't hate you if I tried." He almost smirked and I could hear Andrea and Dale getting closer from halfway across the field.

"He – Vivian, he said that he wants to see you again…" Daryl mumbled, "He wants you to… to make me strong…" Tears were falling freely down my face and I didn't bother to wipe them.  
"I will, Daryl." I promised, "I'll keep you strong for him. We'll find him and Sophia." He tried to say something else.  
"Vivian, I…" But I would have none of it. His eyes were drooping.  
"Ssh, Daryl, rest your eyes. You'll wake up and I'll be beside you. I promise. Sleep." I kissed both his cheeks and his jaw went slack and he went limp.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Is he dead?" Andrea shrieked as she came closer. I winced and I was happy for Daryl that he was unconscious; he would have surely flinched as well.  
"Unconscious." Rick assured her darkly, "You just grazed him."

Glenn spoke up, pointing something at Daryl. "Well, look at him! What the hell happened to him?" He exclaimed, "He's wearing _ears_!" And so he was. I recognised them on a necklace as a symbol of courage or victory. There were 4 of them, so I could only assume that he took down 2 at the same time. He had a bandage-like strip of fabric around his waist so he must have done it while he was injured; hence the trophies. Rick noticed Hershel watching us all closely and he yanked the ear necklace off and tucked it into his pocket. "Let's keep that to ourselves."  
"Guys!" I looked behind everyone to see T-Dog holding up a doll; Sophia's doll that Eliza, Morales's daughter, had given her when we left the Quarry all that time ago. "Isn't this Sophia's?" Everyone else turned and stared at the doll Theodore was holding.

Just as I promised, I was beside Daryl when he woke up. He was lying on the bed, facing away from me, with Rick on his other side and Hershel checking his wound on his side. Daryl had initially complained that he couldn't see me at first but he had to settle for holding my hand. However, Hershel told him to raise his hands out of the way and after some grumbling and some persuasion, he consented.

"It was just washed up on the creek at the bottom there." Daryl said lowly, explaining how he came to find the doll. "She must have dropped it across there somewhere." He shifted in his position. He was topless (Thank you, sweet Jesus) and I could see dirt and blood on him, but also a few inks and tattoos on his body. I'll say now; he had a mighty fine body. Sadly, it was bruised and dirty, but it didn't hide just how muscular he was. Damn, I'm getting distracted. It's difficult not to drool.

"It cuts the grid almost in half… You're welcome." Daryl said, a little bitterly, watching Hershel work while every so often glancing at me.  
"How's he looking?" Rick asked, trying to distract himself from the fact that Sophia was yet to be found and that one of his best patrolmen had been injured badly. Hershel busied himself with the stitching.  
"I'd no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly." Hershel's tone wasn't accusing but I knew he was. The vet moved behind me to wash his hands. He looked at Daryl as he did so. "You any idea what happened to my horse?"

"Yeah, the one almost killed me? Smarted like a country." (**I think that's what he says. I'm watching this on my laptop -_-**) Daryl replied irritably.  
"We call that one Nelly. As in Nervous Nelly. I could have told you she'd throw you if you'd bothered to ask." Daryl was ignoring him. Instead, the man just looked at the ceiling sulkily. Hershel moved over to Rick, drying his hands. "It's a wonder you people survived this long." I scoffed inwardly at the vet.

Rick and Shane left, Hershel soon after, leaving Daryl and I to our devices. Daryl could lie on his left side so he tugged on my hand to pull me to the other side. I released his hand and walked over, taking Rick's seat. "How are you feeling?" I murmured to my Georgian boy. He snorted a little.  
"Doin' great after bein' shot in the head by some blonde." I sniggered a little as he reached out to take my hand again.

"I know I was hallucinatin'." Daryl muttered, avoiding eye contact with me. I tilted my head and moved from Rick's seat to the side of the bed. I perched there, rubbing soothing circles into his rough, calloused hand with my thumbs. "But them things were exactly what Merle woulda said. Evr'y last thing." He covered his eyes with his free arm, making it seem like he was suffering from exhaustion when I knew that he wasn't. He was, in fact, doing it to subtly avoid looking at me.

"But whether Merle was there or not, I en't leavin' you. Not for a thing." I smiled grimly and just held his hand.  
"Even if it meant you had to give up your life?" I asked with a joking tone, not expecting a serious answer. There's no way Daryl would do that. He's got such a big ego, the only way he'd do it would be to make sure his death was memorable. And he wouldn't do it just for me – he'd do it for the whole camp. "Yeah. I would." My head snapped up to look at him but I still couldn't see his face. "In a heartbeat." Damn that attractive man.

"Daryl, take your arm off your face." I said gently. He ignored me. In fact, if anything, he tensed his arm closer to his face. "Daryl." He twitched a little. "Take… your arm… away from you face." I warned. After a few seconds, I thought he wouldn't do anything, but he did. He took his arm away but he didn't look at me. "Now, look at me, Daryl." I ordered. Nope. "Daryl." Finally, he gazed at me and he didn't turn away. I leaned in and placed a hand on his cheek, stroking his scraggly cheek softly. "You'll never have to do that for me, Daryl. I don't want you to do it." He sniffed a little.  
"S'okay. I wouldn' mind." I snickered and shook my head.  
"But I would. And I don't want you risking your life for me ever. You've done so much for Sophia and Carol already. You don't need to do a thing for me." I assured him. Daryl chuckled lowly.  
"Now you don' understand, Vivian. I'll do whatever the hell I wan' with my life. If I wanna give it up for ya, I'll do jus' that. No questions asked." I sighed and pulled away, opting to look out of the window.

"I was terrified for you, Daryl." I whispered, my bottom lip quivering a little and my fingers trembling, "You didn't come back until near sunset. I know you well enough to know that you're only late when something is stopping you, like a hoard of Walkers or something. I was… so scared for you. I was frightened at the thought of you never coming out of those woods. Frightened at the thought of never seeing you again, never touching you again, never hearing your voice again…" I heard him shift behind me but I didn't look. "Do you know how scary that is? I've realised that I'm not terrified of Walkers anymore. That's not what gives me the nightmares." I wanted to turn and look at him but I just couldn't. "The thought of losing you is what gives me nightmares." I finished, my voice breaking a little. 2 muscular legs slid down and 2 arms just as muscular as the legs held my waist. I could feel Daryl's bare chest behind my tank top and he rested his forehead in the nook of my neck. I was basically sitting in his lap.

"I feel the same, ya know." Daryl muttered, his voice muffled by my throat and hair, "If you died or jus'… disappeared… I'd nev'r be the same again. I en't gonna let you go though. I en't gonna let no one take you from me." His face rose from my neck and he rested it next to my cheek. "I'm sorry I'm no good at this roman'ic sen'imen'al shit. There's all kinda stuff I wanna tell ya but I'm jus' no good at this." I slowly turned my face towards his and his electric blue eyes stared into my own eyes. I'd always loved his eyes. They were what told me how he felt. If he was happy, sad, angry, betrayed, jealous, respectful, disgusted, whatever. They were the window into his soul, and he used them to see into my own soul. It's quite unnerving actually but since it's Daryl, I get quite excited actually.

"It doesn't matter if you're not any good. What matters is that you feel and you know what you're feeling." I waited for a few seconds before I finally plucked up the courage to ask the question weighing heavily on my mind. "What do you think of all of these… rumours about… us?" I questioned, looking away again in fear of seeing his eyes full of disgust and annoyance. He chuckled softly and placed his chin on my shoulder.  
"I'm only annoyed by 'em 'cause they en't true." He muttered. I turned sharply to him and he looked straight at me, as if challenging me to ask him to repeat it.  
"You… You want them to be true?" I asked, a little timidly actually. I squeaked a bit unfortunately. How embarrassing. Daryl placed a very careful feather-light kiss on my neck.  
"'Course I do. Been wan'ing them true since they started." I gulped and he grinned against my pulse, no doubt feeling how fast my heart was racing.

His own heart was beating fairly normally, but it had a slight increased rhythm. "An' you?" He inquired. I swallowed thickly and turned away from him again.  
"I… Uh, I was scared about what you would think of them. I thought you'd be sick of them all by now so I kept trying to make them all stop." Daryl lifted his head and moved my face to look at his with his right hand.  
"But do you want them to?" He asked, his voice low and gruff. My mouth was extremely dry and so were my lips. Damn it, don't lick them, don't lick them, don – Damn it. Naturally, Daryl's eyes were attracted to the movement and he didn't look away until about 3 seconds after I stopped. "Well?" His voice now husky and a little haggard.  
"I… I… M-Y-N-I don't know…" He sniggered at my indecisiveness and I swatted at him playfully, "I… Yes. I want them to stop." He grinned mischievously. Oh no, what have I said?  
"Well, the bes' way to put a rumour to rest is to prove them all right." He implied with a wink and kiss dangerously close to my lips. What have I done?

**This one was pretty long as well actually… Hm. Well, this one didn't end how I chose for it to and I left some scenes out that I wanted. I'll probably rewrite this. But, I'll post it first and get your opinions. Whee. I imagined this in my head a lot better than I could possibly write it. Hopefully, this won't be tooooo bad. Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna **


	6. Amorous

**Amorous **

"Daryl, it wasn't your fault!" I tried to reason with him. Hell, he wasn't the only person who was hurting! I had bonded with Sophia and Carol so much over the past few months. I had babysat Sophia, taught her maths, taught her some simple notes when singing and we'd had a brilliant time washing my motorcycle. I felt like she was my niece and Carol would agree with me! Daryl had been searching for days for that little girl and I knew that it hurt that he hadn't found her in time. But he was being such a bastard!

He spun around to look at me and glared menacingly. "Don' start tellin' me whether it was or weren't ma fault, woman!" He hollered and I narrowed my eyes at him.  
"I'll tell you whatever I bloody well wish, Daryl Dixon!" I shouted at him. That damn man would be the death of me. The moon was somewhat high in the sky during our argument and we were just standing in the middle of a meadow. He was going to hunt to 'be away from you damn nosy people', as he put it. "It's ma fault that I din't find Sophia in time! It's ma fault that Carol's in that RV sobbin' her eyes out! It's ma fault I ain't good at nothin' 'cept huntin'!"

"Oh, yes you are good at other stuff, Daryl! You're a good scout, you _can_ cook, you make good jokes (when you're in the bloody mood), you're good at dressing wounds and you certainly know how to make someone cheer up!" I screeched at him. If you think I'm blowing up at him, trust me, I'm not. It could be a lot worse. I had a feeling that a full screaming session was somewhere around the corner though. "It's _not_ your fault that you didn't find Sophia in time! You tried your very hardest, you stupid man! You searched for her the hardest out of everyone in this damn group!"

Daryl scoffed, sweat shining on his brow as it was no doubt shining on my own. "Yeah? Well it don't really matter, does it?" I completely mind fucked then. I threw my hands up in the air.  
"Are you seriously that deluded into thinking that you don't matter to this camp?" He didn't seem to care.  
"Oh yeah, I matter, do I? Well, I'd don't give a shit about nothin' anymore! I don't give a shit about bein' here, I don't give about a shit about anyone! Least of all, you!" I could see the regret plain in his eyes after saying that but it had been said. I couldn't… I feel awful, yes, but after him saying that, it hurt like a fucking bitch.

We were silent for a few moments before he tried to speak again. "Vivian, I-."  
"No, Daryl." I spoke surprisingly calmly, but I knew that I would be shouting soon. "I should have seen this, huh? I should have seen that all of the signs that you _possibly_ cared for me were completely untrue. I should have seen that I was there to dress your wounds and make you feel better about yourself." My voice was steadily rising and the redneck took a step back. "I'm not even sure why I still stay with you. I share your _tent_, I share your _food_, I share your _hunt_, I share your '_affection_'… Why do I keep kidding myself into thinking that you care?" Uh oh, hold onto your hats people… "What would derange me into thinking that you could possibly care for me as much as I care for you? You're such an insufferable man, Daryl Dixon! I keep crawling back! Because no matter how hard you push me away or hurt me, I know that I can't leave you because I am so in love with you, it fucking hurts like a bitch!" He staggered from my last sentence, literally. He actually stumbled. Daryl Dixon, Lord of the Woods, stumbled. I didn't really feel the impact of what I had just admitted; I wasn't hearing my words, they were just spilling out.

"And now you're probably thinking 'Shit, why do I get so deep in this? What the fuck is this bitch thinking? What the fuck was I thinking in the first place to want to help this woman? She is shit crazy.' And ya know what? You're probably right! I am absolutely insane! I'm insane in the mind for thinking about you constantly and about all of this stupid apocalypse shit and I'm insane in my heart for you! I'm completely in love with you and you're just too… _you_ to see it! For fuck's sake, why do I fuckin' bother?" Okay, screaming rant over… Wait, not quite yet, "You have a lot to learn about love and care and if you want me in your life because, God help me, I am _sick_ of this shit." There we go.

Daryl was standing there completely gobsmacked. I had never gone so ballistic on his arse before. My voice lowered so much that I bet he had to strain to hear it. "If you don't want me in your life, say so and I'll leave." But he didn't. He said absolutely nothing, clutching that crossbow of his in his clammy hands. So I walked away.

'_Amorous_'

I sat by the dwindling fire, wrapping my arms around myself. Everyone else was in bed by now. Just me left. I sighed and pursed my lips as I thought of my argument with Daryl. I suppose… He didn't deserve some of the things I said… Guilt gnawed at my gut and I tried to ignore it. After all, it was natural for him to blame himself… Oh God… I said that I loved him… Oh dear LORD… WHAT HAVE I DONE? Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit… Oh man, I am buggered… Buggered like a stupid frickin' bug… Oh man, he hates me… He hates me, he hates me, he hates me… I'm such a bitch, aren't I? I've tried everything I can to help the Dixon brothers… Just lets Merle slip through our fingers like sand and Daryl to start punishing himself. I'm just… Do I count as being human anymore? I'm breaking people like twigs… I mean, I remember Amy… It _was_ my fault that Amy died… Andrea had every right to despise me and I'm surprised no one else did… Well, Daryl did now… Merle probably did too… Hershel and his family hated us all now so that's just adding to the list… Does Carol hate me too? For not saving her child as well? Would Sophia be hating me? Is she looking down at me from wherever she is with disgust and betrayal?

"It's cold tonight." My frankly depressing thoughts were quelled by a voice. I'll admit that I was hoping it was Daryl, coming to apologise, or Lori, coming to comfort me. But no, it was male. I turned and fought the urge to grimace. Skinhead Shane was looking down at me, thumbs in belt loops and everything. "Yes, it is." I replied bluntly. To be honest, I'd rather be left to my awful thoughts than have to suffer through awkward conversation with Shane. Me and Daryl had loads of names for him. Deputy Dickhead, Skinhead Shane, Wanker Walsh, Deputy Dipshit, Buzzcut Buzzkill Bastard, Police Prick… The list is endless. Unfortunately, we had to be especially careful not to call him them to his face. I had nearly done that once. Daryl had to save me, much to my chagrin. He teased me about it for a while. Stupid man. And now I've gone and confessed my undying love for him after he proclaimed that he detested me and didn't care. Huzzah for timing, Vivian. Huzzah for timing.

"Want some company?" Dickhead continued, shifting his feet, the crunching of his boots against the dry dirt grinding through me. I turned back to the fire, no longer caring if I seemed impolite or whatever. "Not particularly." I muttered and it was silent for a moment more, before Shane just came and plonked himself down a few seats away, but still by the fire.  
"Argument with Dixon?" Shane piped up, breaking the awkward silence. Damn it. I would have preferred awkward silence to awkward conversation. Someone turn up and save me! Please!

"Is that any of your business?" Shane was definitely not in my good books. Hell, he's the one who set the fucking Walkers free! He shrugged and leaned back in his seat, his shotgun resting on his lap as he looked at me intensely. "Could be if he's causing you more trouble." I looked at him incredously. Yes, Daryl was not in my good books at the moment either, but hello, I'm in love with him. I have to defend him…  
"_More_ trouble? I wasn't under the impression he'd been causing trouble in the first place." I defended that hubby of mine who I wouldn't be surprised to find was listening to our conversation right now. Shane leaned forwards and stared at me for a few moments. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze but I didn't blink, hell no.

After a few seconds, he slumped in his seat, grunting with dissatisfaction. I smirked to myself carefully, making sure he didn't see. Hehe. "I had a dream about you last night." What the fuck? You don't just say something like that to someone who is quite _obviously_ less than interested in your company. I didn't respond. I didn't even look at him. If clocks had been working then, I'd be checking my watch constantly.

"It was just you and me in a boat. We were fishin'." Okay, where is he going with this? "All of a sudden, Dixon is sittin' beside you and he's rockin' the boat, scaring away all the fish and sending you over the edge." Oh great, it's one of _those_ dreams. "He disappears and I dive in to get you. When I pull you out to safety," Oh, of course he rescues me successfully, "we're just on a beach." He paused and I hoped he was done. But I knew better.  
"And?" I didn't really want to hear the end, but I knew that with such a blunt ending as that, there'd have to be something in there. To be honest, it being Shane and the dream being so simple, we probably had sex in his dream or Daryl and I started making out or something. Hell, I dunno! He smirked naughtily at me. "You were _very_ grateful." Okay, ew. I didn't even try to muster a little awkward polite smile. I just stared at him. "What would you do if I rescued you from some'in' like that? Hm?" What is this, 20 fucking questions? I had a particularly short fuse tonight and he knew it. Oh, I hate that man.

"If you were to rescue me right now, I'd give you a nod and walk away." Any other moment and I might have held out a daisy too but right now, hell to the no. He certainly was not pleased with that reaction but he passed it off with a know-it-all smirk. "Right…" He muttered to himself, as though he knew I was lying or something. To be honest, I might have been lying about the daisy. Maybe I'd blow some pollen in his face or something… Hopefully, he suffers from hayfever…

"Vivian, is Dixon forcing you to stay with him?" I stared at him blankly. The fuck did that come from?  
"Why would you ask a question like that?" I stared at him as though he was nuts. He probably was, to be honest. Stupid bastard couldn't take a hint anyway. He licked his lips and stroked his shotgun fondly, as though he was thinking of shooting Daryl with it. "You've been pretty uptight recently. I'm jus' wondering. I am, after all, a friend and it's up to friends to look out for each other." Friend? Where, exactly, on our dead planet did he get that idea? We were _friends_? What? Did he even know that some of my fondest dreams consisted of throwing sticky honey in his face? And then all of the bees and wasps and shit would be all attracted to his stupid arse face and everything. Oh, man, I feel evil.

"You've been just as tense. We all have. It's understandable, don't you think?" I didn't answer his question. I already knew the answer; unintentionally, Daryl was forcing me to remain close with him. Sure, he wasn't physically twisting my arm or holding my head underwater or anything, but his general demeanour and aura kept pulling me right back over, often spinning in a daze. That and my tendencies to be sort of clumsy while out doing perimeters and shit. Shane scoffed and dropped the subject. For a second or two. "You let me know if he tries anything inappropriate, ya hear me?" He warned me. I could hear the death threat laced into his tone. Shane hated everyone now. Or, at least, most of the group. He made an effort to speak to Andrea, and he spoke to Carl, Lori and Rick, though mostly on trying to leave and Hershel's ideologies to the male. For the sake of getting him off of my back, I nodded. He seemed satisfied with that and got out of his chair. Was that his goal? To make sure that he was my 'wingman' when Daryl got too much to handle? Was he suggesting that I stick with Shane, casual sex and everything? Jesus Christ…

"Vivian." I heard my favourite Georgian drawl and I turned around, fighting to keep the smile off of my face. Daryl stood with a vest instead of a sleeveless shirt on. He was looking at me intensely and then he glared at Walsh. Shane didn't react to the hostility; he was used to it. Just to piss my redneck off, he hunkered down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder, alarmingly close to my neck and scalp, which I'll add now that it is a very erogenous area for me, my scalp that is. Not saying that my throat isn't. But my head and hair is just the easiest way to issue a reaction from me. I don't think Shane knew this, thank God. I don't think Daryl did either, damn it. Oh, shut up.

"Let me know if he tries anything." Shane grunted hoarsely, just loud enough for Daryl to hear. I ignored him, instead opting to watch Daryl's reaction. It was somewhat amusing, if not a little frightening. His fists clenched, not armed with his crossbow for once, and his whole muscular body tensed up. I think he was wishing that he _did_ have his weapon though. Deputy Dickhead looked up at Daryl, patted my shoulder without breaking eye contact, and then strutted away, his pace much too confident. Not like Daryl's. Daryl's is just right… Okay, I'm gonna stop that now.

"What the hell was he doin' talkin' to ya?" Daryl demanded the moment Shane was out of immediate earshot. I didn't answer and turned back to the fire. Yes, I was still angry at him, despite my eagerness to see him just now and earlier, when Shane appeared. "Vivian, answer me." He tried again. I didn't respond. Thankfully, Dixon seemed to realise that he wasn't going to get anywhere using force and loud voices. About time he realised that. As much as it turned me on when he shouted orders and shit, it irked me when he was just doing it to get me to speak to him again. It wasn't happening until I knew that he didn't mean what he said earlier.

I heard his boots trudging over to me and he sat down beside me, on the floor. I was on a rather uncomfortable rock. There were plenty of seats around me, but he seemed to be adamant on staying right beside me. "I thought ya din't like Police Prick over there." Daryl muttered bitterly. I chanced a glance down at him and found him watching the fire too.  
"I don't. You think I invited him over for a cup of tea and a nice chat?" My sarcasm was withering, just like my glare, but he didn't flinch. In fact, he surprised me by using sarcasm of his own. He placed his hands on his heart. "Ya wound me, Vivian. That hurt." I snorted in spite of myself and shook my head slowly. "I always was good at makin' you laugh when you din't wanna." Daryl boasted and I scoffed.  
"Yeah, you're not the only one. Amy was pretty good at that too, thank you very much. That's an insult to her memory." It surprised me how calmly I was speaking about her death but I ignored it.

We just sat there for a few minutes, sad smiles on our faces. "Vivian…" I couldn't help but look at him. I mean, come on, his voice cracked as well. When I looked at him, his beautiful blue eyes were watching me so intensely that I could scarcely breathe. The firelight flickered over his handsome face, illuminating his features. His damn mole was tempting to touch… Nope, gotta have some sort of restraint.

"I'm… sorry." He mumbled lowly, "I din't mean a thin' I said early on today. I swear, I din't. I was jus' angry with maself for not bein' quick enough. For not bein' good enough." How the fuck was I supposed to stay angry at him when he was all forlorn like this?

I slid off of my rock and hugged him close to me, not at all expecting him to return the embrace. But he did! He fucking did, I'm not lying! I almost collapsed from shock! Stroking his hair softly, I tucked my face into his broad shoulder as he massaged small circles into my hips. Damn, that felt good… "I meant it, by the way." I whispered into his bare shoulder. I felt his face shift towards my head a little.  
"Meant what?" He asked, his gruff voice sounding irresistible at such low volumes.  
"That I'm in love with you." Why did I remind him? Why? What the fuck is wrong with me?

"I know." Okay, that was unexpected. I pulled away with a frown.  
"You what? You know? Or did you know all along?" If that's so, why did he stumble when I confessed? Daryl had a smug smirk on his face.  
"I din't really know in ma brain… Somewhere in 'ere tol' me ya did." He thumped his heart as he spoke and I chuckled at the slight cliché of it. I half-expected him to say that he felt the same but he was silent. I was asking for too much too early. I should have known really. I sighed but didn't lean back onto his shoulder. He probably noticed but he didn't pull me back over.

"What were you like before the end of the world?" I whispered. I found myself curious as to how he was. Was he the same mostly considerate, brave, determined guy? Or did the apocalypse demand new aspects to his personality? He sniffed and shrugged. "Same as I am now, I'd say. Still hunted. Had a coupla beers ev'ry night. I was a builder and did some constructive shit. I was jus'… Same as I am now." He repeated. A builder? I'll admit, that wasn't what I was expecting. To be honest, I don't know what I was expecting. "What 'bout you?"

I shrugged, just as he had done, and licked my bottom lip. "Well… I was harsh. I wasn't a very nice person, in my opinion. I turned down charities merely because they wasted my time, I never visited my family because of what they did to me, I smoked sometimes, I drank a lot… I didn't have many friends. I insulted someone if they looked at me funny…. But… my views on the world always surprised everyone who stayed long enough to hear them. At the time, I would say that I wouldn't change a thing about the world because that's what makes the world perfect; its imperfections. I wouldn't even get rid of disease, because I knew that the reality of the world would just… make something worse… like Walkers…" Yeah, I was a pretty bad person pre-apocalypse. I got my act together a few years ago though. I was a bad person in my late teens and early twenties. I sobered when I got to about 25 though. I still wasn't very fond of my family, but I worked hard on building bridges between us.

"Sounds like me." Daryl muttered under his breath and I chuckled breathlessly. We remained silent for I don't know how long. It could have been mere seconds or minutes, or even hours. The fire was beginning to die but Daryl chucked another log on as soon as it showed signs of snuffing out. I think we just wanted to spend time in each other's company where words couldn't spoil the moment. But Daryl this time was the one who broke it.

"I do too." I frowned momentarily and looked at him.  
"You do what?" I inquired. He sniffed again and then looked away from the fire, gazing deeply into my eyes. Man, his eyes are blue… Electric blue… Ocean blue… Sky blue… They changed hues in the flickering light, the crackling flames casting shadows across his handsome face. It just made him seem even more rugged, even more attractive. Damn…

"I love you too." He… what? "Took me a while t' realise, but… I guess I'm jus' glad th't you're patient." He said with slight smile, turning his gaze to the sparks flying into the sky. I watched him for a moment or two, too shocked to close my mouth or really comprehend what he had said. So, like an idiot, I repeated what I said earlier.  
"You do _what_?" He looked at me with a frown.  
"Jesus, girl, I thought ma reaction was bad…" That, at least, grounded me a little. I snorted when I remembered.  
"Oh yeah… Daryl Dixon, Lord of the Woods, stumbled on flat ground from a mere confession." He scoffed.  
"Mere confession my ass."

"Actually, I think my confession was pretty badass, thank you." I defended, though he hadn't really accused. "Still… Trust me to fuck it up by just shouting it out like there isn't a fucking apocalypse going on." Yeah, that sounds just like me, to be honest.  
"Yeah? Well, I think my little confession was pretty sweet too. Nice and sappy for ya." I rolled my eyes with a scoff.  
"Sappy? I wouldn't go as far as to say that. How about… 'Endearing'? Or… 'Romantic'? Or, if you're feeling adventurous, 'Amorous'. There, that's a nice word. Try saying that 5 times in a row." He was definitely chuckling by now at my awful attempt to make him admit that it was a lovely confession.

"Yeah, alright, it was _amorous_." He caved, snorting as he said the adventurous word. Why did that word sounds so nice coming out of his mouth… Hmm… I looked at him with a cheeky smirk.  
"Say that word again." I dared him with a mischievous glint in my eyes, no doubt. He looked at me like I was nuts.  
"Amorous…" He said as though it didn't mean a thing. My smirk broadened into a lopsided grin. Oh, now he gets it… He looked at me with a smirk of his own (damn sexy smirk) and lowered his tone to an impossibly irresistible husky pitch. "_Amorous_." Damn, it gave me shivers…

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Oh, there goes that lovely jubbly romantic moment…

**I feel sort of bad for ending it right there. I feel like there should have been a firelight kiss but I didn't want to ruin Daryl's character, which I've no doubt done anyway. I'm quite fond of Vivian's major blow up. I think, if I was shouting at someone **_**I **_**was in love with, that'd slip out for me. Believe me, it almost did once O_O Anyway, I'm sure you're all wanting to beat me up for not continuing Immortality. Truth is, I'm still working on HOW the Cornucopia is in her house. I've had a few theories but it's just so… Ugh, none of them fit. I had an idea that one of the pursuing Immortals had managed to sneak it in there but that wouldn't make any sense because… Oh my God… I've done it… YES! I HAVE THE SOLUTION! OH YES, YOU ALL MUST BE WONDERING WHAT THE FUCK I'M GOING ON ABOUT! IT'S SO SIMPLE, WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT BEFORE? CHEERS FOLKS! ADIOS! **

**LUNA **

**P.S: I'M A FUCKING GENIUS **


End file.
